I Want You
by ocasille
Summary: "You can spin the story any way you want, anybody who cares about you is gonna figure it out pretty fast." Set after episode 207. Andy finally admits her true feelings for Sam.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue, if I did Sam and Andy would have gotten together wayyy sooner than they finally did hah. The quotes in italics are taken directly from the show. **

**_AN:_ This is a one shot for now, but if enough of you want me to I might continue :)**

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><p><em>"I'm sorry I left you,"<em> Sam said, as he leaned against the locker.

Andy zipped up her sweater, not meeting his eyes. _"It's okay,"_ she said in a tone that made it clear it was anything but okay.

_"Is, uh, someone taking you home?"_

_"I'm getting a ride with Traci,"_ she answered, closing her locker and turning to face him. Her face was hard with no trace of a smile; she didn't look ready to forgive him any time soon.

He shook his head. _"Andy, you can't stay at your dad's, I've been to your dad's."_ Nicely put, it was a pigsty.

She snorted. "Well I don't have much of a choice, do I? As you pointed out earlier right before you ran off, my fiancée/roommate cheated on me. So, I'm pretty much screwed."

Sam sighed; he had gone about this all wrong. He didn't know much about comforting women, usually he didn't care enough to try. But there was just something about her that broke down all his defenses and pushed past all the walls he had built up over the years.

"Stay with me,"

She was shocked, and she forgot to maintain her cool, detached posture for a second. "What?"

"Look, I'm sorry about how I acted today, but I told you that I care about you and I do. And I don't want you to have to move in with your dad, I know you don't want to explain this to any more people than you have to right now." She raised her eyebrows slightly, probably surprised he knew her so well, and he knew he'd hit the nail right on the head. "Just stay with me until you find your own place."

She felt tears in her eyes at his heartfelt offer. She swiped them away angrily. _Damn it, this is why you weren't supposed to let your guard down_. But this was Sam; she didn't have to put on a show for him.

She nodded. "Okay," and finally she let the tears fall. She'd been holding back for too long. Suddenly he was holding her; she wasn't sure how she'd got there, who had inched closer to whom. But she knew right now there was nowhere she would rather be than in Sam Swarek's arms.

"Take me home," she whispered into his neck.

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><p>Andy followed Sam up the stairs, and she couldn't help staring at his ass as he walked in front of her. The way those jeans clung to it just perfectly..<p>

Sam's voice broke her out of reverie. "Here, you can sleep in the guest bedroom."

_Or you can just sleep in my bed._ Focus Sammy, he scolded himself, she just broke it off with her fiancé, you're the _last_ thing on her mind. She needs you to be her friend right now.

She stood in the doorway, taking her hair out of the bun she usually wore to work. "Thanks for this Sam, I really appreciate it."

"No problem McNally," he said, patting her on the arm, trying to keep the mood light.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go to bed. Long day and everything," she said with a weak laugh.

Long day indeed, it seemed like every time he turned around someone or something was threatening his rookie's life. He didn't want to admit just how much the thought of losing her got to him.

Andy pulled off her jeans and crawled into bed in her tank top and panties. She was exhausted after the day she'd had, but she just couldn't stop the thoughts from circling in her head. And the thoughts all came back to one person; Luke. Luke and Jo, together. The thought of it made her want to throw up. She had always thought that Luke was the 'good guy', the guy that would _never _cheat on his girlfriend. He had almost seemed perfect to a fault. But it turned out he had flaws, just like everyone else, and Andy laid there wondering just how well she had actually known him. Probably not at all, and that was the worst part.

Andy jumped out of bed, needing some sort of distraction. She walked downstairs quietly and turned the TV on, channel surfing until she settled on an old O.C. rerun. She tried to focus on the problems of Ryan and Seth, but she kept coming back to her own problems. She turned off the TV, throwing the remote on the couch in frustration. She headed to the fridge and rummaged around, not really sure what she was looking for. She settled on a beer, popping it open and taking a long sip. She closed the fridge door to see Sam standing there, his hair ruffled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Oh shit, did I wake you?" Andy asked apologetically.

"Nah, I just came to get some water. What are you doing up?" he asked, his eyes zeroing in on the beer in her hand.

"Um, I couldn't sleep," she said, putting the beer can down self consciously.

"Bad dream?"

She snorted. "Something like that,"

"Wanna talk?"

She shook her head stubbornly. "No," then she sighed, tipped her head back and chugged the rest of her beer. "Yes,"

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><p>"And it's like I never even meant anything to him," Andy vented as she sat cross-legged facing Sam on his bed.<p>

"Andy, I may want to kick the guy's ass for hurting you so bad, but one thing I know for sure is that he cared about you, a lot."

Andy's heart beat skipped in excitement at his words, the image of Sam Swarek defending her honour popping into her head. She had to admit it turned her on. She shrugged, wanting to be stubborn, wanting him to say more things like _that_. And she was not disappointed.

"He did, Andy, but he's a fucking idiot for fucking it up with you. If I was ever lucky enough to have a girl like you, I would never let her away." He couldn't believe he was saying these things. This was so unlike Sam Swarek right now it was ridiculous. But she made him want to be that guy, the guy he always made fun of for being 'whipped'.

She smiled. "Thanks for cheering me up, Sam."

He shrugged, a little embarrassed now by his professions. "It's the truth," He had to remind himself again that she wasn't in the same place he was, she didn't feel the same way he did.

"You know on the one hand I feel so betrayed and I can't believe Luke would do this to me, and it makes me wonder if he ever really loved me. But another part of me feels _relieved_, like subconsciously I've just been waiting for something like this to happen. Waiting for something to tear us apart, because it never exactly felt _right_. It was good and it was safe, but it wasn't right, it wasn't effortless." _Like this_, Andy thought. She paused, wondering if she had the guts to say what she was really thinking. "But I'm done with playing things safe. I want fire, I want chemistry, I want passion." She looked Sam dead in the eyes, so he would have no doubt about her meaning. "I_ want you_,"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well you guys asked for it, so here it is :) Leave a review let me know what you think.**

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><p>There was a heavy silence hanging in the air, and instantly Andy felt stupid. She wondered if she had just been imagining their connection. Was the spark she felt between them all in her head? She had been so sure that this was it, that <em>he<em> was it. She'd just been kidding herself with Luke, she should have broken up with him sooner, but she didn't simply because there was nothing _wrong_ with their relationship, but like she'd said, there was nothing really right about it either.

But breaking up with Luke meant admitting her feelings for Sam, first of all to herself. Which was something she had been afraid to do until this point, because the way the _want_ for him consumed every fibre of her being _was_ terrifying. Even more so now, when she realized it was completely one sided. She had been afraid of the need for Sam to take her over, but now she was afraid for a completely different reason. Sam didn't need her.

Andy finally broke the stifling silence. "Can we, like, just forget I ever said that?" She laughed nervously, not wanting him to know how much his rejection stung.

Sam shook his head forcefully. "No, we can't, because I've been waiting for to come to your senses ever since I first kissed you McNally."

She sucked in a sharp breath, now that was more the reaction she was looking for. Before she could respond Sam's lips were on hers, instantly she felt the fireworks, just like every time she felt his lips on hers, if she was honest with herself anytime he even touched her. When his hand grazed hers passing a coffee, his hand on the small of her back urging her into action. It was safe to say she was intoxicated by him, she could not get enough. She impatiently pulled his shirt off, exposing his broad, muscled chest. They quickly rid themselves of the rest of their clothes and Andy's last discernible thought was, it was _never _this good with Luke.

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><p>Andy opened her eyes and she felt strong arms wrapped around her. Sam was pulling her as close as humanly possible to his naked body. She smirked, thinking, <em>who would have guessed Sam Swarek was a spooner.<em> She untangled herself from his arms, getting up from his bed. She leaned over kissing his lips softly before she padded quietly to the bathroom.

She showered and got ready in her room, hoping he wasn't up yet. She found she wasn't quite ready to face him after last night. What he must think of her.. She just broke up with her fiancé and immediately she hops into bed with him. She didn't want him to think she was a slut, and she definitely didn't want him to think that he was some sort of consolation prize, coming in second to Luke. She glanced at her watch, still an hour before her shift starts. She really didn't want to be here when he woke up, she knew it was cowardly, but she just couldn't do it. She picked up her cell phone, calling Traci's cell, hoping she's already up.

"Hello," Traci answered sleepily after the fourth ring.

"Hey, did I wake you? Sorry, I shouldn't have called."

"No, no," Traci assured her. "I was already up, getting Leo ready for school. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you want to go get breakfast?"

"Sure, I just have to drop Leo off at school and I'll meet you at Hank's diner in 15?"

"Do you think you could pick me up?" Andy asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, no problem. Your dad's house is near Leo's school anyways."

Shit.

"Um, I'm not at my dad's." she said hesitantly.

"Andy.." Traci said warningly. "Please, tell me you're not back with Luke. After what he did to you..I know you love him, but come on."

Andy was surprised that that was her first guess, but she supposed it was a logical assumption. After all where else would she go?

"I'm not at Luke's," Andy assured her.

She sighed in relief. "Okay good, where are you then?"

"Um, Sam Swarek's," she said talking fast, so that the words all melded together.

"What?"

Andy sighed. "I'm at Sam's,"

Andy could practically see Traci's jaw dropping to the floor. "Sam's? As in Sam Swarek? As in your sexy TO?"

"Traci, he's not my TO anymore."

"Right, right," Traci replied, and Andy could hear the smirk in her voice. "Okay I'll be there in 20 minutes and you can give me all the details."

Traci hung up before Andy could respond, and she laughed in spite of herself.

"I can't believe you slept with Sam!" Traci exclaimed, much too loudly.

Andy sat across from Traci at their favourite spot at the diner, eating her sunny side up eggs and extra crispy bacon.

Andy shushed her friend, glancing around the diner to see if anyone had heard her proclamation. The few patrons of the diner looked either too absorbed in the bottom of their coffee mugs or too sleepy to care.

"It's not that big a deal," Andy said, trying to play it casual.

"Not a big deal? You've only wanted to have sex with him since, oh I don't know, you first laid eyes on him!" Traci said, lowering her voice by only a small increment.

Andy glared at her from across the table. Traci waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, there's nobody here. At least," she said somberly. "Nobody that cares that you did it with Sam Swarek!" she finished off with a sly grin.

"Oh God," Andy moaned as she covered her face with her hands.

"So, how was it?"

Andy peered up from between her fingers. "Heavenly," she admitted. "I don't know why I waited so long."

"Well good for you, Andy." Traci said seriously. "You deserve to be happy,"

Andy lifted her head. "I do, don't I? I shouldn't feel guilty about moving on so quickly, should I? I mean Luke's the one that cheated on _me_."

Traci nodded in agreement. "Exactly, you should move on."

"Do you think I'm a slut?" Andy asked hesitantly.

"What? Of course not, this wasn't just some random guy, it was Sam. This thing between you guys has been building since you guys met. This has just been the first opportunity you've really had to act on it."

Andy nodded, glad to have talked to Traci about this. Traci looked down at her watch.

"We'd better get going to the station." She threw some money down and got up from the booth.

Andy got up too, grabbing her by the lapels of her jacket. "The station? But Sam's going to be there!"

Traci looked at her like she was insane. "So?"

"So, what if he regrets it? What if it wasn't as good for him as it was for me?"

Traci raised her eyebrows, looking at Andy reproachfully. "You worry too much,"

Traci and Andy pulled up to the station and made their way to the conference room to find out their assignment and their riding partners for the day. When they walked in Sam was already there, leaning against a chair looking as sexy as ever, and talking to Oliver. He turned around hearing their approach and was about to say something when Frank walked in. Everyone settled in to their seats and Andy could see Sam staring at her in her peripheral vision, trying to catch her eye, but she was refusing to give in.

"Swarek, McNally, you'll be riding together today."

Fuck, of course.

"Okay people, serve, protect, and don't make me look bad."

Andy hurried out of the room, she knew it was childish, that she was just delaying the inevitable, but it made her feel in control of the situation. Andy sat in the passenger side of Sam's favourite patrol car, picking it without thinking. Sam slid in a few minutes later holding two steaming cups of coffee. He handed one to her and she mumbled a thanks.

"So.." he started, when she didn't say anything he went on. "Do you want to go get some breakfast?"

"I just ate," she replied shortly.

"Andy.." she didn't answer. "Andy, look at me," he said forcefully, that was Sam, always taking charge. She looked into his deep brown eyes, thinking she could lose herself in those eyes any day of the week. "What's going on? Why are you avoiding me? Do you regret last night?"

Well there it was. Sam didn't beat around the bush; he got straight to the point. It was just who he was.

"No. Do you?" she looked away, she couldn't bear looking him in the eye if his answer was no.

"Not at all. What's wrong then?"

She blushed and looked at her feet, wondering why she had been so worried about this. "I was kind of worried that you would regret it. You know, sleeping with your rookie and all."

He tipped her face up to meet his eyes. "I don't, and you're more to me than just my rookie. I care about you a lot."

He was holding back from saying those three words he wanted to say so badly. But he didn't know where she was right now. If this was just sex to her, just a rebound from Luke. God, he hoped not, because he wanted it to mean so much more.

"But Andy, I need to know what this is."

I need to know what this is? God, he sounded like such a girl, trying to define the relationship and all that shit. If she wants to use you for sex than let her, his brain shouted out to him. Wasn't that, like, every guys dream? Just a year ago it had certainly been his. But his heart was on a different page, his heart wanted it to be more than just sex, his heart wanted to hold her and never let go and to be able to call Andy his.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean is this just sex for you? Or..something more?"

"I'd like it to be something more. Is that weird? So soon after being engaged? I don't know it just feels like we're meant to be. Like all my other relationships have just been some meaningless preamble leading up to _this_." she said gesturing between them. She shrugged, watching him closely for his reaction. "Do you think that's crazy?"

He shook his head firmly. "No, not at all. I know exactly what you mean."

"I have to tell you something. It's something I've known for a long time, even if I didn't know that I knew it." she rambled.

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "You lost me," he smiled at her, that disarming smile that made her weak in the knees every time.

"I love you, Sam. I think I always have. I've just been lying to myself, because I was afraid of the intensity of my feelings for you, I was afraid of just how much I really _need _you. But I realized that being afraid I was missing out _really_ being in love."

She didn't even know how long he'd been dying to hear her say those three words to him.

"I love you too, Andy."

He pulled her closer to him in the squad car bringing his lips down on hers, kissing her with all the passion that burned between them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or it's characters. The italicized quotes are taken from the show.**

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><p>Andy felt good. Not an emotion she had attributed to herself since she'd found out about Luke and Jo. Now she just felt at peace about it, she actually found herself thinking that it was probably for the best. How very enlightened of me she thought with a laugh. But it was a fundamental truth that if it hadn't happened she would never have been with Sam, never got to tell him how much he means to her. And she wouldn't be sitting next to him, holding hands, fingers intertwined now as they patrolled.<p>

Cheesy? Yes. Unprofessional? Probably. But electrifying? That would also be an affirmative. It was almost pathetic how a simple touch from him could send her pulse racing. She could just imagine the disgusted look on Gail's face if she could see the lovesick look in Andy's eyes right now. She'd probably make some snide remark about wanting to barf. But not even Gail's cynicism could bring Andy down from this high.

The radio came blaring to life, snapping Andy out of her musings.

"Dispatch we have a robbery in progress at 1371 Jane Street, suspect's face is blue."

Andy took her hand out of Sam's and grabbed the walkie talkie from its holster. Back to business.

"On our way. Did you say his face is _blue_?"

Sam's now unoccupied hand came to rest on Andy's thigh and she couldn't help the smile that lit up her face at the contact. She felt like a teenager again. So that's what Katy Perry was talking about.

The radio buzzed again as the operator told them that there was a bank robbery the day before and the suspects got away, but not before the security guards blasted them with a dye pack.

Busted.

Sam turned on the sirens and in moments they pulled up in front of the grocery store. After maneuvering their way past a couple making out in front of the entrance, they split up to cut the man off. Andy asked if she could talk to him for a minute, but he clearly wasn't going to cooperate. Sam appeared from the other end of the aisle.

_"5'8", athletic build, dark clothes, and a pretty funky skin condition. I'm guessing you got a dye pack to the face. One of the many hazards of robbing a bank."_

And then the guy made a run for it. He pushed a cart into to Andy's stomach, hard, sending her to the ground. But her reflexes were sharp and she was on her feet in the next instant. Oh no, this guy was not getting away. She needed to take her frustration out somewhere. Mr. Smurf just happened to be the perfect candidate.

They caught up to him at the mercifully locked doors and Andy cuffed him as Sam kept his gun trained on him.

Game, set, match, Mr. Smurf. You picked the wrong day to fuck with Andy McNally.

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><p>Sam and Andy brought blue face back to the station and put him in a cell. Just as the doors were sliding shut Gail and Traci arrived with a drunk, dirty, vomit covered man. Andy backed up, trying to get away from the overwhelming smell that was now permeating the entire booking room.<p>

Once Andy was sure her suspect was safely behind bars, she darted out of the room and took a clean, refreshing breath. Sam followed right behind her.

"Good job tonight, McNally." he said as they passed a few people in the hall. They rounded the corner and Sam glanced around furtively, making sure they were alone. All clear, for the moment at least. He pushed Andy up against the wall roughly and captured her lips with his. He kissed her urgently and although she was surprised at first, she quickly responded in the like.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Andy reminded herself that they were at work and they had to stop before someone saw them. She pushed at Sam's chest and disconnected their lips.

"I've been waiting to do that all day," he confessed with a smug grin.

"Sam, what the hell? We're at work," she tried to sound angry, but her voice was too husky to pull it off.

He shrugged, still grinning. "Nobody saw," he turned on his heel and started walking towards the interrogation room. "Now come on, McNally, we have to go watch the questioning."

She watched him walk away, wide eyed. What a fucking tease. Well, two can certainly play at that game. She trailed behind him, plotting all the ways she was going to get even later..

Andy's phone vibrated in her pocket and she excused herself from the interrogation room to answer the call.

_"Hey Trace, what's up?"_

_"Hypothetically speaking, if you were trying to prevent two newly married people from murdering each other, would you use your baton or go straight for the gun?"_ Traci asked, skipping right over the niceties.

Andy heard arguing in the background. "I'd go straight for the gun," she said with a laugh. "But that's just me. Where are you?"

_"Ugh, I'm in hell."_ Traci moaned. _"They stuck me in a room with the bickersons, told us all to wait."_

Andy made a noise of sympathy. _"You're still at the hospital?"_

_"We brought the guy in, they took him to emergency, now they won't let us go anywhere."_ Traci trailed off. _"What the hell is going on?" _she mumbled.

"Traci? What's happening?" Andy asked, concerned.

"They've quarantined us!"

Andy's mouth dropped open in shock. She got off the phone with Traci and went to find Best. She found him locking the front doors to the station.

"Sir.." she said warily. "What's going on?"

"This station is now under quarantine until further notice."

Andy sucked in a sharp breath, her heart beat accelerating in fear.

Andy made her way to the conference room, where Best had told everyone to meet. Everyone seemed calm, everyone was joking. Nobody was aware of the turmoil inside Andy's head. Frank briefed them on the situation, basically telling them they couldn't leave until the hospital found out what was wrong with Henry Lee. Andy got up from her chair, hoping she could find some heavy paperwork to distract her, and wondered how everyone else was so nonchalant.

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><p>"Bullshit, no way you have the straight. You're bluffing," Jerry accused.<p>

Sam shrugged, unconcerned. "Feel free to call me on it."

Jerry studied Sam's face, trying to find some evidence of whether or not he was bluffing, but his expression was blank and unreadable.

"Fuck," he swore, throwing his cards down. "I'm out,"

Sam grinned pulling the pot towards him. "What was that you were saying about beating me, Barber?" Sam teased, glancing at his much larger pile of chips meaningfully.

"Game's not over yet, Swarek."

Sam was distracted from responding when he heard Dov's voice.

"Are you okay, Andy?" Sam's neck snapped around at the mention of her name.

Andy was sitting at a computer, her head resting on the desk and breathing heavily.

"Are you, like, claustrophobic or something?" Dov asked, half joking, half concerned.

Andy lifted her head. "No, I'm not claustrophobic." she snapped, and then she got up from her chair and took off down the hall.

What the -?

"Yo Sammy, you in or what?"

Sam turned his attention back to the game, resolving to check on Andy a little later. After all if he had learned anything about women over the years, it was to tread lightly when they were pissed. So he figured he would give her time to cool off and then he would find her and see what was bothering her. That gave him just enough time to finish cleaning up in this poker game..

Fifteen minutes later - yes fifteen minutes was all it took for him to wipe the other 3 guys out, he was that good - Sam was walking the halls in search of Andy. He found crouched down in an empty interrogation room with her head between her knees. He put his hand on her shoulder and she flinched and looked up, surprised to see him.

"Andy, what's going on?" she looked like she was in pain and Sam hated seeing her like this.

"Uh, nothing, it's nothing." she stuttered, thoroughly unconvincingly, even to someone who didn't know her as well as he did.

He shot her a dubious look and sat down on the floor next to her, pulling her closer to him. "Andy.."

She hid her face in his chest, embarrassed. "You'll think it's stupid,"

"Andy, nothing you could say would be stupid." she looked at him as if to say _oh really? _He laughed. "Okay, scratch that, but just tell me. I won't judge, promise."

"Well, I'm kind of a hypochondriac, so honestly this whole quarantine thing is scaring the shit out of me." she peeked up at Sam, gauging his reaction.

"Andy, that's not stupid. Contracting a disease is a legitimate fear." Her eyes widened and he realized he was just making her even more scared. Shit. "But you have nothing to worry about. _We got quarantined for Sars, you know what happened? Snack machine ran dry, Jerry started growing himself a goatee, and I took everyone's money in poker. _Trust me Andy, this'll be over before you know it and you'll at home wondering what you're going to buy yourself with the nice overtime bonus you earned_ not_ working."

She smiled feeling slightly more relaxed. "Maybe," she allowed.

"No, not maybe. Definitely," he leaned down, pecking her on the lips. "I finally got you, you think I'm gonna let anything happen to you?"

Andy loved this side of him, the sweet side, the romantic side, the side he didn't let anybody but her see.

Andy stood up. "Come on, I have an idea. Maybe Mr. Smurf will be just as freaked out about this as I am. Nothing like the fear of impending demise to get a man talking."

He grinned. "I like the way you think, McNally."

Apparently nothing shook blue face. When told about the quarantine he remained just as cocky and arrogant as when they brought him in, and he still refused to provide his name.

"Well, so much for that." Andy sighed once they stepped back into the hall.

"Oh well, it was a good idea. Hey, I'm gonna go see if the guys want to get destroyed at poker again. Are you gonna be okay?" Sam asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm just going to catch up on my paperwork."

Andy sat at the front desk next to Chris, trying to keep her mind of her current situation and focus on her paperwork.

"Hey Chris, how's desk duty treating you?" she knew he hated desk duty, but he was just too nice to say anything. She loved that he was such a genuinely nice person, but she wished he would stand up for himself time to time.

"Oh, it's alright, everyone's gotta do it at some time right?" He smiled good naturedly. "I just don't like being away from the action. Everyone's talking about this blue guy in holding or something? And I'm totally in the dark."

"Wait, you haven't seen him yet?" Andy asked, forgetting her paperwork for a minute.

Chris shook his head, looking sad about this fact.

Andy grinned. "Perfect,"

"Diaz, you want to go undercover? Did you not get enough of those white pants last time?" Oliver joked.

"Look, maybe he'll get something, maybe he won't. It can't hurt, right?" Andy said.

Oliver nodded. "Alright Diaz, it's all yours."

After putting Chris into the holding cell with blue face Andy and Sam watched and listened as Chris talked Smurf's ear off. Sam laughed appreciatively.

"Good job, McNally. Diaz is gonna annoy this guy into submission."

A few minutes later Andy heard something they could use.

"Sam, did you hear that?"

Sam turned back around, he'd been paying attention to the poker game, trying to guess what Oliver was holding based on his facial expressions.

"What?"

"Blue guy, he just said 'I didn't steal anything, I just took it back.' Someone who has a grudge with the bank?"

"Okay good, you're gonna have to call someone on the outside to go talk to the bank manager."

Andy pulled out her cell phone, glad to have a lead. She typed in the number she had dialed a hundred times before, without thinking.

"Callaghan,"

Shit! Why didn't she call Dov? She really didn't want to do this now, especially in front of Sam.

Quickly she told Luke what she needed from him, ignoring his questions on how she was doing.

"Andy, wait.." he said, as she was hanging up and she pretended not to have heard and pocketed her phone, putting it on silent in case he tried to call back.

She took a deep breath to calm her anxiety, that at the moment had nothing to do with her hypochondriasis. She felt a hand at her back, Sam leaned down towards her. "You okay?" he whispered in her ear.

She nodded. "I'm fine,"

He eyed her with concern, and was about to say something else when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He stepped down the hall. "Swarek,"

"Hey Sam, it's Traci, I tried calling Andy but she didn't answer." he scrunched his eyebrows together. Were they already at a point in their relationship where they were taking each other's calls? They'd only been together three weeks, but strangely he didn't mind.

"Um, what's up?" he asked distractedly.

"It's Henry Lee," she paused, taking a breath. "He's dead,"

Well fuck.

"Shit, well I'll let Best now. Thanks for calling," he ended the call and walked to Frank's office to deliver the news.

He hoped he could keep this off Andy's radar; she was freaked out enough as it is. Hopefully he could just keep her preoccupied with their case.

Andy rounded the corner, and caught sight of him. "Sam, where'd you go? I think we've got him!" she smiled, and he resolved to do whatever it took to keep that smile on her face until they got home safely.

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><p>Sam led blue face's equally blue faced wife into the holding cell. Mystery solved. And he had managed to keep Andy busy enough that she hadn't hear the announcement Best made about Lee's death. Sam walked over to the desk where Andy was filling out more paperwork.<p>

"Well there we have it, Mr. and Mrs. Smurf reunited at last."

She laughed. "How did you know that was my nickname for him?"

Frank walked in just then and he clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Listen up everybody, good news! I've just found out that the illness that killed Henry Lee is not contagious. You're all free to go,"

Andy looked at Sam, accusingly. "Did you know about this?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll meet you at the car." he pecked her on the lips and took off to the locker room to change out of his uniform.

It felt so good to take off that stiff uniform after such a long shift. He said bye to the guys as he was leaving.

"Hey Swarek, next quarantine your ass is mine in poker." Jerry assured him.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jer." he smirked, throwing his leather jacket over his shoulder.

Andy stood next to his car, rubbing her hands together trying to stay warm. He unlocked the doors and she got in, slamming her door, and abruptly turned her back to him.

She was pissed. He decided to let her simmer for the ride home, but after a few minutes the overwhelming silence started to bother him.

"Come on, don't be mad, I just didn't want you to worry."

She sighed. "I'm not mad, I'm just thinking."

"About?" he pressed, when she didn't elaborate.

"I'm still trying to decide if what you did was sweet or just secretive."

"Can we go with sweet? I didn't want you to worry unnecessarily, and it was unnecessary, right? Everything turned out fine." he really had been just looking out for her.

"Yeah, it did, but I could have handled it. I'm pretty tough, if you hadn't noticed." she smiled, so he knew he was forgiven.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Won't happen again," he swore.

As soon as they got back to Sam's house they went straight up to his room, exhausted. Andy pulled of her jeans, t-shirt and bra. She grabbed Sam's recently discarded shirt from the floor and pulled it over her head, loving that it still smelled like him.

They fell into bed side by side, Sam holding Andy close to him. She loved that he liked snuggling, it was something she would never have guessed about him.

Andy sighed in contentment, snuggling closer to him and breathing in his manly scent. "You have no idea how good it feels to just fall asleep in your arms after a day like that."

He smiled, squeezing her tighter. "Oh, I think I have an idea."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Blah, I don't know about this chapter. Hopefully you guys like it better than I do haha. So, the reason this story was going to be a one shot is cause I didn't really know where to take it. But how would y'all feel about canon plot lines with a McSwarek twist? Review, let me know if that's something you'd like to read.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters.  
><strong>

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><p>"You can't be serious," Sam groaned.<p>

"I am," Andy responded, with a nod of her head. "Deadly,"

"I hate shopping, I feel like that's something you should have guessed about me." he said as flipped the eggs he was currently attempting to cook. It was something she had assumed, but that hadn't dulled her optimism.

"I'm sure you need some new clothes too, you have, like, two pairs of jeans." she said, eyeing one of said jeans that he was currently wearing. Although, she didn't care to pay much attention to what jeans he was wearing when the upper half of his body was delightfully unclothed, as it was this morning.

"I like them," he grumbled.

"Come on, if you do this with me we can do something fun that you like to do on our next day off." She paused for a minute, thinking. "Wait, what _do_ you like to do besides pretending to be notorious drug dealers?" she asked teasingly, as she walked over to where he stood by the stove

He laughed sarcastically at her teasing. "I can think of something I love to do that doesn't involve buying clothes," Andy raised her eyebrows, interested. He smirked, "Doesn't involve clothes at all."

She smiled, but rolled her eyes. "Sam, I'm being serious."

"Oh, so am I." he grinned smugly. "Deadly," he said, copying her previous words.

"Besides," he continued. "Can you really see me as the kind of guy who carries his girlfriend's bags as she shops?"

_Girlfriend_, she sighed inwardly, her heart fluttering at his words. They hadn't officially defined their relationship yet, but just hearing him say those words made her realize just how much she wanted _this_. It had been a long time coming, but finally she was right where she wanted to be.

"Girlfriend, huh?" she asked, as she absent mindedly rested her hands on either side of his waist.

"Um, yeah, I just thought, I mean I assumed," he stuttered, running his hand through his messy hair. She smiled, she liked seeing his vulnerable side, it was a side that she, or anyone for that matter, rarely saw.

"Sam, I'm just teasing," she said, putting him at ease. He breathed a sigh of relief and she leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips. She walked over to the counter and rested her elbows on the granite, watching him as he made them breakfast.

"Well okay then," Andy said, resigning herself to the fact that he wasn't going to give in. "Damn, I guess I'm going to have to pick out my new bra and panties _all_ by myself." she shot him a flirty smile, hoping he'd fall for it.

He almost dropped the egg he was currently plopping on to a piece of toast. He turned around to face her, his eyebrows drawn together. "You're bluffing,"

She shrugged. "I guess you'll never know, will you?" She walked back over to him. She traced a finger up and down his chest and he watched her, with raised eyebrows. She leaned in capturing his lips, licking his bottom lip, her palm now resting on the defined muscles of his abdomen. Just as he was starting to get into the kiss she pulled away, and leaned behind him, grabbing the plate of eggs and toast. "Thanks for the eggs,"

She smirked, flipping her hair and walking over to the table, loving her new playful side.

"Damn you, McNally," he growled, and she just laughed in response.

After showering and getting ready Andy headed out the door, teasingly telling Sam that he had missed his chance to watch her try on lingerie. She kissed him briefly, telling him she'd see him later. As she pulled out of Sam's driveway she dialed Traci's number on her cell.

"Hey Trace, I'm just leaving now. Do you want me to come pick you up?"

"Sure, that'd be good."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes." Andy said, as she maneuvered the busy Toronto streets.

Andy pulled up in Traci's driveway and a few moments later Traci came walking outside.

"Hey," Andy greeted her friend as she slid into the passenger seat. "Cute outfit," she said eyeing the dark skinny jeans and clean cut black blouse.

Traci smiled. "Thanks,"

"So, Yorkdale or Eaton Centre?" Andy asked.

They both pretended to think about it for a minute, and then they said simultaneously. "Eaton Centre,"

They both laughed, they always picked the Eaton Centre. There was always something going on there because it was downtown, and it was always fun to get a couple drinks afterwards.

They shopped for most of the day. Andy finding a great pair of jeans and some heels at Guess and Traci bought some much needed clothes for Leo and a purse for herself. No lingerie for Andy today, that had been purely to torture Sam. Andy also couldn't resist buying a shirt that she saw in the window of a passing store, knowing it would look great on Sam.

"Wow, you guys must be getting pretty serious, buying each other clothes." Traci commented as the cashier rung up Andy's purchase.

"Oh, he wouldn't buy me clothes. That would involve him stepping into a mall." she laughed good naturedly, his dislike for shopping wasn't something she was going to hold against him. He was a man after all, what could she expect?

Andy relayed the story of this morning, telling Traci how she'd pretended she was going to be shopping for lingerie. Traci laughed appreciatively.

"I bet that piqued his interest, eh?"

"Oh yeah," she said laughing and rolling her eyes at the memory.

Andy was so caught up in her story that she barreled head on into a man walking in the opposite direction.

"Shit, I'm sorry," she said, stepping back.

"No, it was my fault," said a familiar voice.

She snapped her head around, seeing familiar blonde hair as Luke crouched down to pick up her bags.

He straightened up, handing her her bags and she mumbled a thanks.

"Andy," he said, looking surprised.

"Hi," she said, trying to avoid eye contact.

"How are you?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"Good," she answered shortly, not returning the line of questioning. Honestly, she didn't really care how he was.

He shifted nervously and cleared his throat. He pointed to her bag. "Did you buy something for your dad? He doesn't strike me as the type to wear Jack and Jones." he chuckled, no doubt trying to keep the mood light.

Now it was Andy's turn to feel uncomfortable. As far as Luke knew she was staying with her dad, and it was fine by her if he continued to assume that. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her relationship with Sam, not in the slightest, but she didn't feel it was any of Luke's business. She really didn't want him to know her on a personal level anymore. They had to interact at work, that was inevitable, but that was it, she wanted to keep it a strictly professional basis.

"No, not for my dad." she answered.

He looked confused for a minute and then the comprehension dawned and his smile slipped away. "Oh," she could see the hurt plainly written across his face as the pieces of the puzzle clicked together. "So, do I know him?"

She groaned. "Luke..can we not do this? Like ever?"

"Don't you think I deserve to know?" he asked, and she hated the self entitlement in his tone.

"No, I don't think you _deserve _anything. Now if you don't mind I'm hanging out with my friend." Before he could say anything else she stepped around him, leaving him to watch her walk away.

After they had rounded the corner, Traci put her hand on Andy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Andy nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered honestly. "I'd just rather not see him any more than I have to. I mean it's bad enough I have to see him at work, you know?"

"Yeah, it must be hard," Traci sympathized.

Andy nodded again, but she didn't really want to talk about Luke. "So, do you want to go dinner then a few drinks?"

"You know it,"

* * *

><p>Sam's cell phone rang and he grabbed it quickly, glancing at the caller ID.<p>

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked, his voice coming out harsher than he intended.

He never thought of himself as one of those overprotective men that had to know where his girlfriend was at all times, but she had him worried. She said she would be home for no later than 8 and it was now well past 12. After his many years of experience dealing with sick and sadistic criminals he was imagining every possible, terrifying scenario. None of them had been pretty.

"Calm down _Dad_," she said, giggling like mad.

Sam rolled his eyes, she was drunk.

"You're drunk," he accused.

"So? What you've never been drunk before?" he rolled his eyes again at her stupid question. "Maybe you should try it sometime; it might loosen you up some. You're always so _tense_ and serious,"

"Maybe I'm tense because I was fucking worried about you." he hissed.

"You were worried about me?" she giggled again. "How sweet,"

He groaned, clearly he wasn't going to be having any coherent conversations with her tonight.

"Where are you?" She told him the name of the bar she was at. "Don't move, I'm coming to get you." he said in a tone that left no room for discussion.

Sam circled the block a half a dozen times and finally found a spot a few blocks away from the bar. He walked quickly, pulling his coat tighter around him to protect from the harsh winter winds. He opened the door to the bar and looked around his eyes searching for Andy. He found her by the bar, talking to some burly looking guy who was much too close to Andy for his own good.

He walked over to the bar quickly, his jaw clenched. As he got closer he heard more telltale giggling and Beef Neck, as Sam had nicknamed him, moved in closer. Sam pulled Andy away from the douche bag, probably with a little more force than was necessary.

"Let's get out of here," he growled into her ear.

Suddenly Beef Neck was upon them. "Hey Andrea, is this guy bothering you?" Andrea? Sam fought the urge to laugh out loud. _Nobody _ever called her Andrea.

As he stepped into the light Sam saw his admittedly, not hideously unattractive face, but the guy couldn't have been more than 22. He was probably still in college, but Sam could easily beat the shit out of him, even if he did have a neck that was as thick as a tree trunk. Not that he would do that or anything. He couldn't see Frank saying serve, protect, and beat up college Frat boys. Although he was sorely tempted when he saw Beefy's reach his hand out towards Andy.

Andy was still giggling, apparently not having registered his question, so Sam answered for her. "No, I'm not bothering her. I'm taking her home, since clearly she's wasted. And you'd be smart not to stand in my way." Sam added menacingly.

He snorted, not moving an inch, proving that intelligence was not one, of his undoubtedly many, redeemable qualities. "What are you gonna do old man? Beat me with your cane?"

Sam let out a breath of disbelieve. The younger generations kept getting more and more disrespectful, it was an atrocity. He registered what he was thinking, God he did sound like an old man, complaining about the next generation.

"You better move your ass, College boy before I arrest you for obstruction of justice." This, of course, was total bullshit, but something told Sam that this guy didn't focus on his studies too much.

"I'm so sure you're a cop," he snickered. "You're probably just some pervy old man that wants to take a hot _young _girl home. Well guess what buddy, I saw her first."

Sam could not believe the audacity of this kid. He really wished he didn't have Andy to take care of right now, because he would be pounding this kid's face in for talking about Andy like she was some prize to be won.

"Just try me," Sam dared him. "Believe there is _nothing _more I would love than to handcuff you and put your cocky ass behind bars."

Andy chimed in then. "You can handcuff me officer," she laughed, like this was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard.

Okay, he was getting her out of her, now. He moved past Beef Neck supporting Andy on his shoulder. Beef Neck's arm shot out, landing on Sam's arm. In a flash Sam let go of Andy making sure she was steady and whirled around, twisting the perp's arm behind his back.

"Ow!" he shrieked, in a very unmasculine fashion.

Sam brought his other hand back around and slapped on the handcuffs that he always had on his person for times such as these. Sam frisked him, under the pretense of looking for weapons, but Sam knew he wouldn't have any. What he was really hoping for was...Aha!

"What have we here?" Sam asked smugly, pulling a small plastic bag out his back pants pocket.

"Dude, that's not mine," he whined, seemingly now convinced that Sam was indeed a cop.

"Doesn't matter _dude_, it was on your person, so therefore I'm taking you in for possession. Should be a fun story to tell all your Frat buddies how you spent the night in jail." Sam was gloating, but he didn't care about professionalism at the moment, this jackass deserved it.

"No, I can't spend the night in jail!" he whined again, all traces of toughness vanished into the night air.

"Let's go tough guy," Sam looked around, suddenly aware that every eye was on him. "It's alright, I'm a cop,"

This apparently was the only solace everyone needed, as they went back to their dancing and body shots. Sam called into the station, knowing he wouldn't be able to lead the kid and support Andy all the way back to his car. Also he didn't want to deal with this fucking idiot any longer.

The whole time they were waiting the idiot talked his ear off about how his father was a lawyer and how he was going to get Sam arrested for assault. He went on and on with his empty threats, apparently getting back some of his tough guy mojo. Sam rolled his eyes in relief when Diaz and Epstein finally pulled up.

"Took you long enough rookies," Sam said, not in the best of moods.

"Sorry sir," Diaz said, always the people pleaser.

Andy waved from her perch on the curb. "Hey guys!" she called out energetically.

Dov watched her with amused eyes. "Andy, are you drunk?"

She held her thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch apart. Sam rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that night, only a little my ass.

Dov laughed. "Awesome,"

"The suspect, Epstein," Sam reminded him, a little more rudely than the situation called for, but he really just wanted to get this night over with.

"Right," Epstein said, still chuckling to himself.

After Epstein and Diaz took off Sam helped Andy to her feet, and led her to his car. Not trusting that she wouldn't get in trouble in the time it would take him to pull his car around. She was pretty trashed.

"So, where is Nash, anyways?" Sam asked as he was driving home, it finally occurring to him that she had been alone.

"Oh, she left just before I did. She took a cab, and I said I was going to call you."

Sam was pissed that Nash would leave Andy at the bar all by herself, vulnerable to all the creeps that populated the downtown area. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and Andy brought her hands to his. She had sobered up slightly since they left the bar.

"You're mad," she stated.

He didn't answer, of course he was pissed. She said she would be home at 8 and she didn't call for 4 hours, in which time he had been worried _sick_ about her, and then he gets to the bar and she's flirting with some steroid munching, football playing moron.

"Please don't be mad," she pouted, stroking his hand with her thumb.

He removed her hand, placing it back in her lap. "We'll talk about this tomorrow Andy, when you're sober."

They didn't talk for the rest of the ride, except when he asked her what she wanted as they went through the McDonald's drive through. When they finally pulled into his driveway it was close to 2 am and Sam was exhausted. He was definitely not looking forward to shift tomorrow.

Sam helped Andy up the stairs to his bedroom and she asked him to help her get into her pajamas. He took off her clothes and her bra, his eyes sliding over her practically naked body, he may be mad at her but shit, he was a man, and she had an amazing body. He pulled his shirt that she always slept in over her head and they made their way to bed. Sam's head hit the pillow, his back to Andy, and he knew he would be asleep in minutes.

"I love you," Andy whispered behind him, unsurely. "I'm really sorry,"

He sighed, not quite ready to forgive her. "I love you too," he responded and then succumbed to a much needed sleep.

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><p><strong>Please review!<br>**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters. **

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><p>Sam laid in bed less than 5 hours later, wishing he could just throw his phone across the room so he wouldn't have to hear the incessant buzzing of the alarm. He groaned and rolled out of bed, deciding he needed coffee if he was going to make it through this day. He padded down the hall, running his fingers through his hair, and yawning. He put on a pot of coffee and went to have a quick shower.<p>

Sam stepped into the shower, closed his eyes and he tried to pretend he was still sleeping as the water cascaded down his body. But the events of last night flooded his mind, keeping him firmly grounded in reality, not allowing him to slip back under the blissful haze of sleep. The image of Andy flirting with that idiot from the bar popped into his head. Usually he wasn't the jealous type, but just seeing Andy touching that Cro-Magnon beefcake had him steaming out the ears. The first thought that had flown into his mind was; _mine_. Which he realized was totally archaic and over possessive, but now that he knew what it was like to be with Andy he couldn't even stomach the thought of her being with anyone else.

And he knew it was terribly clichéd, but he found himself thinking, I've never felt this way about anyone before. But it was true, nobody had ever made him feel the way she did, nobody had ever elicited the same reactions from him, and Sam Swarek had certainly dated his fare share of women over his 40 years. Women definitely had a thing for cops, of course it didn't hurt that he was good looking and charming. Not his words, words of women past trying to convince him that they didn't like him just because of his uniform. Not that it mattered to him either way, whatever they had to tell themselves to get to sleep at night.

Sam shook his head to clear the thoughts, remembering he had to get ready for work still. He got out of shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked back to his room, his hair dripping behind him, and pulled on a pair of boxers and jeans. When he got back in the kitchen the coffee was finished and he poured himself a large mug of the steaming liquid, thanking God for its invention.

As Sam was drinking his coffee Andy stumbled into the kitchen, looking utterly miserable.

He couldn't help smirking as he asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I've been better," she said with a grimace. She sat at the table, and rested her head in her hands.

Sam poured a cup of coffee and waved it under her nose. She looked up and smiled. "Thanks,"

He just nodded, and then looking at the time on the stove said, "You should probably go get ready, or we're gonna be late for work."

She nodded, but didn't make a move to get up. She really wanted to talk to him about last night.

"Sam, listen, about last night.." she started.

He interrupted before she could say anything. "McNally, really, we have to leave in 40 minutes at the latest. You should go get ready, we'll talk later."

He walked out of the kitchen and towards his room before she could say anything. She groaned and dropped her head back on the table. She felt like someone had dropped a bowling ball on her head and Sam was pissed at her and didn't even want to talk about it. Great, this was going to be a fantastic day.

Ten minutes after Sam had wanted to leave he was still standing by the door waiting for her to join him.

"McNally, let's go!" Sam shouted up the stairs.

Usually they left for work separately, on account of Andy's chronic lateness. She always got to work racing to get her uniform on and dashing to parade just before it started. Sam on the other hand liked to get to work a few minutes early, change into his uniform, talk to his friends, and grab a coffee. But seeing as Andy had left her car downtown last night, they had no choice but to leave together. This seriously screwed up Sam's morning routine, which combined with the lack of sleep and Andy's behavior last night, didn't put him in a particularly cheerful mood.

He tapped his fingers against the door frame impatiently, checking his watch again. For a second he debated leaving and letting her call one of her friends for a ride. Traci usually always ran late too, she of course had the excuse of having to get her son up and ready for school. But he quickly decided against it, it was a jackass move. Although, so was making him late for work.

He decided to give her one last warning. "McNally, seriously if you're not down here in two seconds.."

She bounded down the stairs a tube of some sort of makeup in her mouth, a shirt pulled halfway on, and tying her hair back. If he wasn't in such a bad mood it might almost be comical. She groaned when she got to the foot of the stairs.

"Oh God, definitely should not run today unless absolutely necessary."

She pulled her shoes on and grabbed her coat out of the closet. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I know you hate being late."

He didn't say anything, just raised his eyebrows and grabbed his keys off the table.

He started up his car and turned the heat on. Andy put over the vents, rubbing them together for warmth. He quickly backed out of his driveway, knowing he was going to be breaking a few speed limits on the way to work..

Andy was sick of the silent treatment. So she went out for a couple drinks? So what? She felt like he was over reacting a bit, but she wanted to keep the peace.

"Thanks for coming to pick me up last night. Sorry if I woke you,"

He looked away from the road and shot her an incredulous look. "That's why you think I'm mad?"

She shrugged as if to say _well isn't it?_

"Andy, you said you'd be home at 8 and you didn't call to 12."

"Okay.." she said still not understanding. "I didn't know I had to check in with you."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Do you know how many times I've almost lost you over the last couple years? I don't think you understand how much you mean to me. God, I was going crazy last night imagining every worst case scenario, that someone that has almost killed you in the past came back to finish the job."

_Oh_, so that's what this was about. She'd never realized how much her actions on the job affected him. And yes some of the situations she found herself in were just pure shitty luck, but some of them were a direct result of her occasional (okay, maybe more than occasional) unwillingness to follow orders, and her rash impulsiveness. Knowing now that her recklessness had a direct affect on Sam, she resolved to be infinitely more careful. Okay, maybe not _infinitely_, she was still Andy McNally, her impulses were very often correct, and they sometimes saved lives. But she would definitely make a marked effort _not_ to get herself in to any more potentially fatal situations. For him.

She took his hand in hers, interlacing their fingers. "I'm so sorry Sam, I should have called, I wasn't thinking. It won't happen again," she promised.

He nodded, but he didn't seem quite appeased.

"Was there something else bothering you?" she asked warily, as they pulled into the station. She was a little fuzzy on the details, but she was pretty sure she didn't do anything else that would warrant the sullen look on his face.

"We'll talk later, we don't need to be any later than we already are." he said not confirming or denying her question.

She let it go for now, because she _was _the reason he was late. Quickly she gave Sam a kiss and then headed towards the locker room.

Andy was partnered with Traci today; they were working the speed trap. One of the most boring assignments ever, which would make this horrible day drag out even longer. Andy could tell just from a glance that her friend wasn't in much better shape than she was. Well, at least they could be miserable together.

"Hey how are you feeling?" Andy asked as she handed Traci a coffee.

She groaned. "Ugh, probably the same as you; like shit."

Andy laughed, but abruptly stopped when the action caused her head to pound even harder. "That sounds about right,"

"Well they say misery loves company,"

Andy smiled grimly. "My thoughts exactly,"

Andy opened up the driver's side of the patrol car, having lost a coin toss to Traci. She could not wait for this day to be over, as soon as she got home she was going to have a long hot bath and then fall into bed. Traci got into the passenger side and turned the radio up so they would hear any incoming calls.

Andy parked the car in the divider between the road, where the 401 and 427 exited on to Eglinton. This was by far the busiest speed trap in the city, as the speed limit decreased exponentially in a short distance. Andy grabbed the radar gun from the back seat and she and Traci stood outside in the cold Toronto climate, taking turns holding the gun up.

"So did you get home okay last night?" Traci asked, as she buried her hands in her pockets, trying to keep them warm.

"Well, I got home _safely_,"

Traci raised her eyebrows in question, and Andy told her the story of last night - what she remembered anyways - and this morning.

"But he still seemed mad and I don't know why." Maybe Traci could give her a clue. "What was I doing when you left?"

Traci thought for a minute, and then she snapped her fingers. "Come to think of it, you were talking to a guy, and it was getting kind of flirty when I left."

Andy groaned. "Well that would explain it. Ugh, I have to talk to Sam,"

Andy handed the radar gun over to Traci and pulled her cell phone out. She dialed Sam's number and paced nervously as it rang four, five, six times. On the seventh ring it went through to his voicemail, '_Swarek, leave a message.'_

"Damn it,"

A few hours later Andy and Traci made their way back to the station, picking up lunch on their way. Andy was hoping Sam would be doing the same so they could talk. Once they got inside she scanned the station, looking for him and found him talking to Dov and Gail near booking. She walked over to them, and waited not so patiently a few feet away for him to finish up his conversation. He walked right by her, and she turned around, following him.

"Sam, can we talk?"

He shuffled some papers on the desk. "I'm really busy McNally, Peckstein just brought in a suspected trafficker and Boyd needs yours truly to oversee the case."

"Just for a minute? Please, it's important,"

He sighed and turned around to face her. "What is it McNally?"

"Look, I know I was flirting with some guy at the bar last night, and I'm really sorry, but trust me when I say that he means _nothing_ to me."

He sighed again; he really didn't want to do this now, not here, at work. "Okay, I believe you,"

"Okay?" she asked, not believing him for a second.

He shrugged, "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, you seemed kind of pissed about it earlier."

He shook his head, "I wasn't pissed,"

"Okay, but it bothered you," she stated, it wasn't a question, so he didn't answer. "Do you want to tell me why it bothered you so much if you believe that he meant nothing to me?" she pressed, she needed to know what he was thinking.

"Look, McNally," he said in a matter of fact tone of voice. "Let's just state the obvious; I'm older than you, a lot older. And if you want to be with someone closer to your age I understand that, I won't hold you back." He took a deep breath, satisfied that he had said everything he'd wanted to say. He was going to be mature about this, even if it killed him.

Andy's eyes widened in shock, how could he still have doubts? Maybe she hadn't made it abundantly clear enough that there was _nobody _she would rather be with. For a minute her mouth couldn't form words, but the completely defeated look on Sam's face as he misread her silence snapped her out of her daze.

"Sam, no.." she started, but she was interrupted by a hand at her shoulder.

* * *

><p>Luke watched Andy from his office with growing discontent, as she engaged in a heated conversation with none other than Sam Swarek. It was becoming increasingly obvious to everyone, or maybe just Luke since he was the only one watching the whole exchange with rapt attention. But it was painfully clear that this wasn't just a conversation between a rookie and her TO, this was a lovers' quarrel. Now he knew; Swarek was the guy Andy was seeing. Of all the fucking people..<p>

Luke couldn't believe Andy had moved on so quickly. Had their relationship meant _nothing_ to her? And then a disturbing thought occurred to him, maybe she'd been seeing Sam since before they broke up! Yeah, that could be the only explanation. At least this is what Luke convinced himself of as he made his way over to them. Because really it was the only way to justify what he was about to do. Andy had cheated on him and made him feel like the dirt bag and like he was responsible for destroying their relationship, when really she had an equal if not bigger part in it. So, really if you think about it he deserved this one small act of revenge. Yeah, he deserved it.

He tapped Andy on the shoulder and she whirled around. "What?" she asked, once she saw that it was him that had interrupted her talk.

"I just wanted to say that last night was fun. We should definitely do it again some time."

Luke heard Swarek's sharp intake of breath and he fought the urge to smile victoriously. He turned on his heel and walked back to his office, leaving a stunned Andy and a pissed Swarek in his wake.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters. **

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><p>Sam couldn't believe his ears; <em>last night was fun<em>. What the fuck was that supposed to mean, anyways? As if he didn't have enough problems right now, and not just with his relationship, but also at work. Boyd was constantly pressuring him to get back into Guns and Gangs, saying Sam was the best UC officer he had. And he was tempted to say yes, he really was, but he would be leaving too much behind. But Boyd was relentless, and it was starting to really piss Sam off. Boyd knew he loved UC, but Sam had also explained to him why he couldn't do it this time. Thinking about Boyd really wasn't helping with his current anger.

Sam forced himself to calm down, not to jump to conclusions, but any way you spin it, it didn't look good on Andy. He walked away and as he had assumed she would, Andy followed him. He flung the door of an empty interrogation room upon, closing it heavily behind them, then he spun around to face her.

"You saw Callaghan last night? Sam hissed under his breath, even though he knew nobody could hear them in the sound proof interrogation room.

"No!" she exclaimed adamantly, but then she stuttered. "I mean yes, I did-"

"Which one is it, Andy?"

"I did see him, but it's not what you think."

How did she know what he was thinking? _He_ didn't even know what he was thinking. "Really? What am I thinking?"

This wasn't what she was expecting him to say and she faltered. "I - I- don't know,"

"Please tell me you didn't sleep with him," Sam whispered, closing his eyes tightly. He didn't believe that Andy would actually do that to him, but Callaghan had just implied as much, and Andy wasn't exactly assuaging his fears in that regard.

"No!" Andy exclaimed, hurt that he would even have to ask her that. "Of course I didn't, nothing happened. I saw him for like one minute at the mall in which time I told him off. He's just trying stir up trouble, to drag me down, and make me as miserable as he is."

Okay, that was a relief, but still. "Okay, I'm sorry, I should have trusted you. But you saw your ex-fiance and then you decided to go wasted? Is there a connection there? Are you - are you having second thoughts?" he took a deep breath, bracing himself for her answer.

"No, no, Sam, it's nothing like that. Where is all this insecurity coming from? It's not like you,"

She was right, it really wasn't like him. I guess this is what happens when you're actually invested in the relationship, when you love someone so much you can't imagine your life without them. And he was invested in this relationship, he was in it for the long haul, he just really needed to know that Andy was too.

"I don't know, I guess I can't help feeling sometimes like you chose me by default. Like if he hadn't cheated on you, you'd still be with him. I just need to know; why me? Why me and why now?" He knew they would have to have this talk eventually, but he had been putting it off and putting it off. He just didn't want to disturb how well things were going, but it was a false sense of happiness. It was time he got some answers.

She winced at his accusations, even though she knew they were all fair concerns. They were all concerns she had often wondered if he had.

"Please don't ever feel like you're my second choice, that is the furthest thing from the truth. If anything Luke was my second choice, I wanted you right from the beginning, but it always seemed like something was in our way. So, I guess you could say that I settled for Luke, I resigned myself to the fact that you and I were never going to happen, and I settled for less than I deserved. I really wish I could say with absolute certainty that I wouldn't be married to Luke right now if he hadn't cheated on me, but I can't, because I just don't know." Sam was now clenching his jaw, his hands balled into fists at his side.

"But you know what I've realized?" Sam raised his eyebrows in question, too hurt and too angry to say anything. "I'm glad he cheated on me. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but it snapped me out of the dream world I was living in. The dream world I lived in where I pretended I didn't want you, where I pretended that you weren't on my mind constantly, and where I pretended that I actually loved Luke a fraction as much as I love you. So, maybe I would have married Luke, but it would have been the biggest mistake of my life. Because what I felt for him pales in comparison to what I feel for you."

Sam was trying to process everything Andy had just confessed to him. _Maybe I would have married Luke.._ Those words sliced through his chest shooting straight to his heart. She said that Luke was her second choice, but if that was true how could she possibly say yes to his proposal? It pissed him off that she hadn't even given them a fair chance from the start. In her mind they were over before they even started.

Sure, he was her training officer and it was against the rules, but they could have made it work. He would have made it work, for her. If Luke hadn't cheated on her they may have never gotten their chance, all because of Andy's fears or doubts, or whatever the fuck it was that was holding her back from him. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he couldn't doubt the sincerity of her other words. That she loved him more than she ever loved Luke, and that she wouldn't change anything, because it brought them together. He just wished she could have realized it on her own, without Callaghan forcing her hand.

He realized that Andy was waiting for him to say something, waiting for her to tell him everything was okay, but he just couldn't.

"Andy.." he started.

"You don't believe me," she stated, in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"I do, I believe that you love me more than you did Callaghan. But I just can't sit here and tell you that I'm okay with the fact that you might have married him just because I was, in your mind, unavailable. I mean you didn't even give us a shot, how do you know it wouldn't have worked?"

"I'm sorry," she said, simply.

"I know," he sighed.

"So what does this mean for us?" she was terrified of his answer, but she had to ask.

"I don't know, I just need time to think. I think we both do, we probably rushed into this too fast." They had gone from friends, to lovers, to roommates at a head spinningly fast pace.

She felt tears prickling the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over. "I guess now would be a good time to tell you that I got approved for the apartment that I applied for last month."

"Andy..I'm not kicking you out,"

"Well we can't really have space when we work at the same place and live under the same roof."

He didn't reply, he didn't try to talk her out of it, as she had foolishly hoped he would.

"I should get back, Traci's going to be wondering where I went." She put her hand on the handle, trying to make a quick escape, but his hand covered hers, preventing her from leaving.

"Andy, I'm sorry," he said to her back.

She took his hand off of hers and turned the knob. Keeping her back to him so he wouldn't see the stray tears that had fallen, she said quietly. "Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong."

She opened door, fiercely wiping away the tears as she walked away. When she rounded the corner she pulled out her cell phone, and dialed her realtor.

"Hi, Shirley? It's Andy McNally, I was wondering, how soon can I move in?"

* * *

><p>Andy stood on her tip toes, pushing the wine glasses to the back of the top shelf. Now she was officially unpacked, the box of wine glasses being the last remaining of the boxes she had picked up from her dad's where she'd been storing them. She sighed; this finally felt real. Which was the reason she had avoided unpacking the box until now, a week after she had moved in. She looked around the small, but beautiful apartment. It really was a great apartment, especially for the price, and under normal circumstances she would be thrilled. But every time she looked at the dark hardwood floor it reminded her of the floor in Sam's doorway, which consequentially reminded her of Sam, and of the last time they talked in that interrogation room.<p>

Sure they talked at work, exchanging 'hello's' and 'how are you's', but never anything substantial. But Andy was keeping her word, she was giving him space. She loved him, and he if this what he said he needed she would give it to him, even if it was killing her. Thinking about how helpless she felt was really depressing her. Andy stretched back up on her tip toes, closing her fingers around the stem of a wine glass. She plucked it out of the cupboard and poured herself a glass of red Merlot.

A couple hours and a few more glasses of wine later Andy sat on her couch, turning her phone over in her hands, toying with the idea of calling him. He said he needed time, she chided herself, you owe him at least that. But the larger, more selfish part of herself, the part that needed to hear his voice, won out.

_Fuck it,_ she thought, deciding to throw caution to the wind.

And quickly before she could change her mind she dialed his number and held the phone to her ear like a lifeline. It rang and rang and just when Andy was about to hang up the call connected. Before he could say anything she blurted out,

"Sam, I miss you." she charged on, before he could respond, before she could lose her nerve. "I know we see each other at work, but it's not the same. I can't touch you, I can't kiss you, I can't talk to you, at least not about anything real. I miss you, it's only been a week, but it feels like so much longer. Can you just - please, come over?"

There was silence as she waited for him to respond. He wasn't even going to say anything? Now she was pissed. Just as she was about to let him have it she heard his voice on the other end of the phone.

"Andy?" His tone was confused, not exactly the reaction she was hoping for. "I'm sorry my ass must have picked up my phone for me. What were you saying?"

She let out the breath she had been holding.

"Nothing," she lied, "My ass dialed yours. I guess our asses must miss each other." she said, with a weak attempt at humor.

He chuckled, and then cleared his throat. "How are you?"

"Good, but I have to go, I have something in the oven. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," he replied gruffly, sensing her brush off. "See you tomorrow,"

Andy hung up the phone and threw it to the other end of the couch, cursing her bad luck and her cowardice. She flopped back on the couch, covering her head with her hands and wishing, that just for once, something would go her way.

* * *

><p>Sam hung up his phone, pondering Andy's slightly strange behavior. He could tell that she had been trying to get off the phone with him, what he didn't understand was why. They hadn't talked much since Andy had moved out, aside from the occasional hello as they passed in the halls; she seemed to be avoiding him. Sam wanted to know how she was, how she was settling into her new apartment, if she had everything she needed. But how could ask if she wouldn't even talk to him.<p>

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar and unwelcome voice from behind him.

"Swarek! Just the man I was looking for."

Sam rolled his eyes before turning around to face Boyd.

"Boyd," Sam replied, smiling tightly. "What can I do for you?"

"It's not what you can do for me, but what _I_ can do for _you_." Already Sam didn't like where this was headed. "I've got an assignment for you."

Sam interrupted, "Boyd, how many times do I have to tell you; I'm not interested."

"Oh come on Sam, you haven't even heard what it is yet. Come on," Boyd pulled Sam into his office and closed the door behind them.

"It's Jamie Brennan, remember him Sammy?"

Boyd knew full well that Sam remembered him. He was a major drug dealer responsible for a string of murders. Vincent DeCarlo, Matthew Ellmore, Norah Wilson; the list went on, but they could never find enough evidence to make it stick. Boyd knew this one was personal for Sam, and he was going to use it to his advantage.

Boyd grinned, knowing he was making headway. "Yeah I thought you might. I know you really wanted to pin him for the security guard. This is your chance Sam, your chance to bring him down. I want the best for this operation Sam, and you're the best."

Boyd was trying to appeal to Sam's ego and he hated that it was starting to work, he hated Brennan, and he hated Boyd at the moment for exploiting the knowledge of that hatred to get him back into Guns and Gangs. Because it working, he was breaking. Boyd sensed the weakness, and he pounced.

"So what do you say Swarek? Do you want to be part of the takedown of one of the most notorious drug dealers and most wanted murderer in the city?"

"Fine! I'll do it," Sam amended, "Just, leave me alone,"

Boyd smiled victoriously but didn't say another word.

Sam turned and walked out of Boyd's office, and wondered what the fuck he had just gotten himself into.

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><p><strong>AN: I know, a little angsty, but I felt it was necessary. Hope you guys like it anyways.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters. **

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><p>"If you miss him so much, then go talk to him." Traci advised, nudging Andy in Sam's direction.<p>

Andy watched him closely as he talked to Boyd. Was it just her imagination or was he talking to Boyd a lot lately?

"I don't know," Andy sighed, "What if he still needs time? I don't want it to seem like I'm pushing him."

"He's still your boyfriend, right?" Andy nodded in agreement. "So, go talk to him, at least let him know where you stand."

Andy had to admit; what Traci was saying made sense. But honestly, she was a little afraid of rejection. She was afraid he would tell her that her past with Luke was just too much for him to handle. And Andy didn't know if _she_ could handle Sam telling her that right now. But she was sick of the waiting, of the not knowing. And she was really sick of waking up alone every morning; she'd gotten so used to waking up next to his warm body. She felt comfort and a little fear in the sudden realization one cold dawn, that she wanted to wake up next to Sam Swarek _every_ morning.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk to him." Andy conceded.

"Good, go," Traci gave her a gentle shove and Andy stumbled forward.

"Right now?" She needed time to psych herself up for this. She, of course, had already played out all the different scenarios in her head. Already planned what she was going to say. She just hadn't planned to say it today, _right now._

"Yes, now. All I've heard for the past two weeks is how much you miss Sam. So, now it's time you go tell _him_ that."

Damn it, she was right again.

Andy walked away grumbling about Traci's pushiness, but really she knew her friend was just looking out for her. She made her way over to Sam and he, upon seeing her approach, said a few more words to Boyd and then turned and closed the remaining distance between them.

She placed her hand on his upper arm, and his eyes followed the movement. She wondered if she was crossing some invisible boundary, but ultimately she didn't care.

"Hey, can we talk?"

At first he looked surprised, and nervous? Maybe she was just imagining things, because the look was gone in the next instant.

"Sure," he smiled at her invitingly, and she felt slightly reassured. It wasn't quite the customary Sam Swarek grin, but she'd take it.

He took her hand and led her down the hall, and her heart rate accelerated at the simple gesture. Maybe he missed her too; maybe he was just as sick of this fucking 'space' as she was. God, she sure hoped so. She knew he was leading them somewhere where they could talk privately, and she shifted her hand uncomfortably in his grasp, feeling it become clammy with her increasing nerves. What was wrong with her? This was Sam. She didn't have to be nervous around him, that was the whole point. Everything was always so comfortable and natural with them. Quickly she ran over some words in her head, trying to bunch them together to form coherent, reasonable sentences. She wanted to do this right.

She looked up, taking in her surroundings. She had been too caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't even realized that they were now in an empty viewing room. Sam was eying her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. She took a deep breath, ready to say all the carefully constructed, well thought over words she had been preparing. But instead what tumbled out of her mouth were three words that had been playing over and over in her mind ever since their fight two weeks ago.

"I miss you,"

Again he looked surprised. Did he still not grasp the depth of her feelings for him? Why would he be so surprised by that notion?

"Why does that surprise you?" she was a little hurt by the expression that was still played across his face

"I just thought - well I mean you've hardly looked at me the past couple weeks. I thought maybe you were rethinking things. Rethinking this," He gestured between the two of them.

Now it was her turn to be shocked.

"What? No! I've just been trying to give you the space you needed. Do you know how many times I've wanted to drive over to your house and demand that you take me back? I was just trying to do what you said you wanted. I love you, that's something that's never going to change." Suddenly a terrible thought occurred to her. "_You're _not rethinking this are you?"

She didn't know if she could handle his rejection now. Not after she had just laid all her feelings out bare. She waited breathlessly for what she hoped would be reassuring words, but he didn't answer her with words.

Sam put his one hand on the small of her back, pulling her body flush against his. His other hand was at the back of her neck, urging her closer. He captured her lips with his greedily, wondering how in the hell he'd gone so long without feeling her soft lips brushing against his. He never again wanted to go any extended period of time without feeling the heady feeling that coursed through him every time their lips met. Even though it was the last thing on earth he wanted to do he pulled back, because they did still need to talk.

"Fuck no," he said in answer to her earlier question. "I love you; the last two weeks have been hell without you. Look, I don't like your past with Callaghan," she opened her mouth to interject at this point, but held his hand up. "But that's all it is; the past. So, I say it's time we left it there and moved on, together. What do you say, McNally?" He pulled her closer to him still with the hand that was still at her back.

"Sounds like a fucking plan," she agreed, and he grinned at the use of her language.

"Now what do you say we go back to my house for a lunch break?" She could hear the quotations in his voice around the words 'lunch break' and she knew food was the last thing on his mind. It was definitely the furthest thought from her mind.

She nodded her head enthusiastically in concurrence. It had been far too long.

* * *

><p>Sam's phone vibrated loudly on his bedside table. He rolled over, grabbing it and seeing who the text he had just received was from. Fucking Boyd again.<p>

"I have to get back to work," he told her unenthusiastically, not moving an inch despite his words.

"Yeah, I'd better go. I think my lunch hour was over half an hour ago." She chuckled as she rolled out of bed and picked her clothes up off the floor. He watched her shamelessly as she got dressed, wishing they could both just blow off work and stay in bed all day getting 'reacquainted'.

He pulled her back down towards him as she was fastening the clasp of her bra, and she shrieked in surprise. He kissed her feverishly, his hand roaming down the front of her body, his hands toying with the button of her jeans. She laughed into his mouth and separated their lips, resting her hands on his chest.

"I thought you had to get back to work."

"Fuck work," he growled, only half joking.

She laughed again, pulling her shirt over her head. "Oh God, I wish. Big shot Sam Swarek might be able to get away with playing hooky from work, but Andy McNally always gets caught. It's just a sad fact of life."

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" He raised his eyebrows, amused

"Yeah, so?" she countered. He just smiled and shrugged as he sat up in bed.

"Hey, could you throw me my clothes?"

"Lazy," she remarked as she threw his jeans, boxers, and customary black tshirt beside him on the bed.

She jumped up from the bed and leaned over giving Sam a peck on the lips.

"Bye. I'll see you later?" She phrased it as a question, as if she was unsure again.

He flashed her his full megawatt smile. "Yeah,"

After Andy left Sam was forced to confront the unopened text message from the phone that he was still clutching.

_'Swarek where are you? We have to iron out some details for your uc op. Come to my office when you're done playing hide n seek.'_

Asshole.

Ugh, he'd almost, _almost _forgotten about his impending undercover mission for an hour. Of course Boyd had to remind him again. To remind him that he would be going undercover in a matter of weeks, to remind him that he had yet to tell Andy about his new assignment. He was still trying to back out, but Boyd refused. It was clear he wasn't going to budge, and Sam was starting to lose hope. He was resigning himself to the fact that he would soon be going undercover, and that he would soon have to tell Andy about it. He'd been putting it off, telling himself there was no reason to upset her if there was the possibility that he could convince Boyd to drop him from the case, but it was clear from even their first conversation about it that Boyd wasn't letting him go.

_Sam fastened the buttons of his uniform shirt as he walked to the exit of the locker room. He had to talk to Boyd, get out of this before it's too late. He found him leaning against a desk outside his office laughing and talking with a couple guys from Guns n Gangs. Boyd caught sight of him and waved him over._

_"Here he is, Sam Swarek, finally deciding to grace Guns n Gangs with his presence again." Boyd and the other guys laughed and usually Sam would have joined them. The guys of 15 always ragged on each other, but it was different with Boyd, there was just** something** about him that irked Sam. It was something he couldn't quite put his finger on._

_Sam smiled humorlessly. "Can we talk in your office?" he asked, looking at Boyd._

_Boyd gave his friends a significant look like,** ooh I'm in trouble** and they smirked as Sam and Boyd walked away._

_"What can I do for my favourite undercover officer?" Boyd asked as he settled into his leather chair._

_"I need you to take me off this case."_

_Boyd threw his head back, laughing. He looked back at Sam and when he realized the same serious expression was still upon his face, his own sobered._

_"Oh," he snickered, "You're serious. Sorry, no can do."_

_"Look, I was dealing with some shit and I said yes without thinking. So, can we just pretend that that didn't happen?"_

_"Sorry Sammy, you're in a binding verbal contract." He laughed, like he was telling a joke. Sam crossed his arms tightly across his chest, his expression stony, failing to see the hilarity of the situation._

_"You'll thank me later," Boyd assured him._

_Un-fucking-likely._

_He spun his chair away from Sam, turning his attention to some paperwork at his desk, essentially telling Sam without words that he was dismissed._

_Condescending bastard._

_Well, I'll just have to try again tomorrow, Sam decided._

Yeah, he tried again tomorrow, and the next day, but to no avail. It looked like whether he wanted to or not Sam Swarek was going undercover, soon.

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><p><strong>AN: So last chapter <strong>there was 900 hits and only 5 reviews<strong>, I know it was a little angsty, but it can't always be happy. And even if you don't like the chapter you can still review, I don't mind constructive criticism. On that note I was wondering about a few things, is everyone in character so far? With tv shows sometimes I think 'okay could I imagine them actually saying that?' Also are their conversations about their feelings believable? Leave a review, let me know how I'm doing. Thanks :)**


	8. Chapter 8

****Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters. ****

**AN: Okay, so sorry it took so long, and sorry it's short, but I just wanted to get something out before I go away for the weekend. And I know people wanted to know how this conversation was going to go so hopefully you guys like it. I'm aiming to update next week sometime to make up for this short chapter**_. _**Also, thank you to the anon reviewers that I can't thank via pm :)**_  
><em>

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><p>"I have to tell you something," Sam said quietly as they sat at his table later that night. Andy took a sip of her wine and peered at him across the table.<p>

"What is it?" She asked worried, she could hear the change in his tone. He knew this was going to hurt her, and he hated himself for it.

"I'm going undercover again," Sam blurted out.

Okay, maybe not the best way to broach that particular subject, but at least now she knows.

Her mouth opened and then closed again, deciding against whatever she was going to say. Or maybe, he thought, she just couldn't formulate a reply to sufficiently articulate the betrayal she felt. Because really, that's what this was. Even though they had never specifically talked about it, it was an unspoken agreement of sorts that he wouldn't rejoin Guns and Gangs.

He loved undercover work, he really did. He loved the challenge of it, the challenge of completely embodying the character, he loved the break from routine, and he had to admit he loved the thrill, the edge of danger. Which he knew was stupid, but it was still something he craved on some testosterone fueled, adrenaline pumping level.

So, yes, Sam Swarek thoroughly enjoyed the undercover life, but he realized that giving it up was a necessary sacrifice for the success of his relationship. Not only the success of his relationship, but also Andy's own peace of mind.

One particularly introspective night after Sam had impulsively agreed to Boyd's offer, his mind drifted to how Andy would feel while he was undercover. He dredged up his feelings on Andy's many near-death escapades, feelings he usually kept buried for two reasons. Firstly, because he was a man, not unlike most, that didn't like to discuss or think about such things, but also because the utter helplessness and looming grief were emotions that threatened to suffocate him. He couldn't even imagine the weight of those emotions bearing down on him _every_ _day_ for months on end.

So, he had a very clear perception of how this would affect Andy, because they were alike in the way that they couldn't stand feeling helpless, they hated to stand idly by while someone they loved was possibly in danger. The knowledge of what this was going to do to her provoked feelings of self loathing that had previously been nonexistent.

"When?"

He was a little taken aback by this question, but he answered quickly.

"A few weeks, 3 or 4. I don't know exactly, Boyd-"

She cut him off mid sentence. "No, when did you decide to do this?"

"Last week," he admitted sheepishly. He wasn't about to lie to her.

She nodded, like he was confirming something she already knew. Her expression was neutral, but he could see the hurt lingering in her eyes. He needed to tell her the whole story, make her understand that the last thing he wanted was to be apart from her. But she spoke first, surprising him.

"I'm sorry; I don't mean to be unsupportive. I just assumed that you were done with Guns and Gangs." He opened his mouth to interrupt, to tell wanted to be, oh God he wanted to be, but she held up her hand. "I know, I know it was presumptuous of me to assume that you would give up something you love just because we started dating."

He would sacrifice anything for her, didn't she know that?

"So, I'm sorry, I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I really hope it goes well, and I hope you'll be safe."

She was holding back, he could tell. There was something she wasn't saying. She sounded so stiff and formal, as if she were wishing luck to a fellow officer she hardly knew.

"I _am_ done with Guns and Gangs; I mean I wanted to be. This was never supposed to happen. Boyd had been hounding me for weeks and he caught me at a bad time and I agreed to get him off my back. It was stupid and impulsive and you don't even know how much I wish I could take it back."

Andy looked relieved, and some of the tension drained from her face. "That's it? You didn't say yes because-" she paused, considering. "Because of me?"

"Because of you?" he asked, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"Forget it, it's stupid." She looked embarrassed now after her impulsive words.

Sam reached across the table, taking Andy's hands in his.

"Tell me,"

She looked down at their connected hands as she spoke. "Well, you know, nothing say space like going undercover for a couple months."

He stared at her for a moment, agape. He then tipped her face up to look into his eyes. He held her gaze captive with his own, putting as much emotion and truth as he could into his that lingering stare.

"No, it had _nothing_ to do with that at all. This is all on me. I was rash and stupid and it's my fault. I want you to know that I would give this up for you if I could, but it's too late. Everything is already set in motion."

She let out a breath. "Okay,"

His brows furrowed. "Okay? That's it? You're not mad?"

"No. Like you said it was a mistake. I don't like it and I'm definitely not looking forward to it, but God knows you've endured enough of my mistakes. I think it was your turn," she joked, poking his arm.

"Wow McNally, who knew you could be so mature and level headed." he said playfully.

"Hey, don't make me regret it."

Andy walked over to his side of the table, pushed his chair away from the table and sat down on his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder and breathed in deeply.

"Did I mention how much I'm gonna miss you?"

"I'm not going anywhere just yet." Sam reminded her.

She planted a kiss on his neck, sucking softly. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to make the most of these next few weeks."

She pulled back, grinning wickedly right before she crushed her lips to his. He brought his hands up to the nape of her neck, pulling her closer. Andy swung her right leg over his so she was now straddling his lap and Sam thought; _well she definitely took that news better than expected.._


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters. **

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><p>"You told him you were fine with it?" Traci eyed Andy dubiously as if Andy was fabricating the story.<p>

"Yeah, so?" Andy answered defensively. She watched the barista impatiently as he made her drink. She needed something to distract her, and right now that distraction was a skim milk, no-fat latte.

"So, that couldn't possibly be what you were really thinking." Traci stated as a matter of factly.

Damn Traci and her bluntness, it made it so hard to pretend, to hold on to something she desperately wanted and needed to be true.

The barista finally handed Andy her drink and she took it from him gratefully. They found a table near the back and Andy reluctantly looked across the table at Traci who was still eyeing her expectantly, waiting for a response.

Andy shrugged in acquiescence. It would be a futile effort trying to lie; Traci could see right through her. "You didn't see the look in his eyes, like he was letting me down in some unforgivable way. I just- I couldn't-. I think I wanted so badly to be strong for him that I almost convinced myself that I would be okay."

Traci shook her head sympathetically. "Oh Andy…you have to tell him."

Andy shook her head adamantly. "No, I can't. Maybe I wasn't completely honest with him - or myself for that matter, but it's for the best. When he's undercover, I _need_ every ounce of his focus on the job at hand. I can't have him worrying about me. So what if I have to pretend that it's not going to be complete hell every minute he's gone? If that's the sacrifice I have to make to ensure that he comes back safe then I'll do it; I'll do it every time."

Traci sighed, "I think you should tell him, he would want to know, but it's your decision." Traci reached across the table, placing her hands over Andy's. "You know I'm here if you ever need anything while he's gone, right?"

She nodded, "Thanks Trace. God, I can't believe he told me he was going undercover and I jumped him." She laughed in embarrassment.

"Well that bit of craziness balances out the maturity. I'm sure he wouldn't have even recognized you if you kept acting rational and whatnot."

"Hey, I can be rational." Andy complained, narrowing her eyes in mock annoyance.

Traci laughed, "Not when it comes to Sam."

Andy didn't answer, there was no point trying to refute that fact.

"Thanks for talking to me about this Trace. I swear, you'll be the one to keep me sane throughout all this." Andy took another sip of her latte, cupping her hands around the hot mug to warm up her perpetually cold hands.

"Glad to help."

Traci laughed suddenly, a reminiscent look in her eyes. "Guess what Leo did this morning."

Andy listened intently and laughed along with her as Traci regaled her with stories of Leo's latest escapades.

* * *

><p>"So she says chivalry's dead and then takes the cheque right out of my hand. Do you believe that?" Epstein rambled on, clearly not expecting an answer. "What has the world come to that a man can't even buy his girlfriend dinner? I tell you it's these independent career women. Which is all well and good and something I'm all for." Dov added with his hand raised, as if Sam was going to report this conversation back to Sue, whom he didn't even know.<p>

"But it's like they're trying to assert their independence all over our masculinity." He said 'our' as if Sam was somehow included in this conspiracy that Epstein had concocted in his head.

Sam pressed his fingers to his temple, trying to tune out Epstein's incessant chatter. He took his eyes off of the road for second to glare at him, hoping he would take the hint and shut up. But who was Sam kidding, this was Epstein, the guy never shuts up.

"Epstein, radio in to see if there's anything, anything at all, going on." Sam cut him off mid rant, too annoyed, tired, and bored to senseless to care about the unnecessary rudeness to one of Andy's friends.

"Sure," Epstein answered, seeming thoroughly unfazed by the interruption.

Just as Dov was reaching for it, the radio crackled to life.

"1508, we have a domestic disturbance at 5625 Mt. Pleasant Road."

Sam groaned - he just had to go and jinx it. Now they had to go play mediator to Mr. and Mrs. Real Estate developer or Investment Manager or whatever the hell it was that they did for a living that landed them in one of wealthiest neighborhoods in the country. More often than not these calls ended up being disputes about how to spend their bonuses, and Sam had to, politely as he could manage, inform them that that was not in their job description as police officers.

Minutes later they pulled up to the gated driveway which promptly swung inward allowing them entrance. When they rounded the circular driveway to the front door they found a woman wearing, in Sam's opinion, ridiculously high heels and a short dress that indicated she was under the impression that she was much younger than she actually was. She frantically hailed them down as if they would miss the monstrosity of a house.

They stepped out of the car and she was upon them. Her eyes were red, her makeup smudged, she'd clearly been crying.

"It's about time you got here!" she cried, grabbing Dov by the arm and dragging him towards the door.

Sam's phone rang and he signaled to Epstein that he had to take the call. He watched the woman haul Epstein into the house and resisted the urge to laugh at the panic stricken look on Dov's face.

"Swarek," Sam said shortly after he pressed talk.

"Where are you?" Boyd asked, skipping right to the point.

"Rosedale for a domestic disturbance." Sam answered, the contempt obvious in his voice.

Boyd laughed unsympathetically. "See, aren't you glad you'll be done with pointless shit like that soon?"

"Did you need something?"

"Yes, yes I did. I'm meeting my rat in a half hour and you need to be there."

"Where?"

After Boyd had given him the details he hung up his phone and rejoined Epstein in the foyer.

"Ma'am, you need to calm down and tell me what happened."

"My husband, bastard, he took - took my Molly!" the woman got out between hysterics.

"Molly - is that your daughter?" Sam asked, stepping in.

"No!" she shrieked. "My dog!"

It was only due to many years of experience that Sam managed not to roll his eyes.

"I'm sorry, we don't deal with pet, uh," Epstein snickered quietly. "..kidnappings."

The woman turned on Dov, incensed. "You have the gall to laugh at me? Why, you're nothing but a child! You know nothing of life or loss."

Dov schooled his expression. "Sorry, ma'am, I just meant to say that there are no legal parameters for a situation such as this."

"Well, if you're not going to do anything then kindly remove yourself from my home." she huffed.

_With pleasure_, Sam thought.

"Sorry we couldn't help." Sam offered on their way out in an attempt to placate her. She didn't answer, only closed the door firmly behind them.

Epstein waited until the gate had closed behind them before he burst out laughing. "Dog kidnapping, oh man, that's gotta be a first."

Sam chuckled, not bothering to rebuke Epstein for his earlier unprofessionalism. "Sadly it's not,"

"Really?" Dov asked, interested.

Sam drove back to the station and filled Dov in on some of the more outrageous calls he had received over the years and he thought; the guy's not such bad company when he's not talking.

"Epstein, I've got an errand to run. I'm sure you can find some paperwork to fill out to make yourself useful while I'm gone." Sam said as he pulled up to 15.

Epstein grumbled under his breath as he and Sam parted ways but otherwise didn't say anything. Sam changed out of his uniform and lifted up his shirt, tucking his gun under the waistband of his jeans. He slammed his locker shut and walked to his truck and then made his way to a part of the city that he'd only ever been to while on duty. Sam pulled up to the address Boyd had given him and parked behind the abandoned building as he had instructed.

He got out of his truck and looked around warily, not seeing Boyd by the back door where he said they should meet. He dug his hands deep into the pockets of his leather jacket and walked on. He rounded the corner of the building to find Boyd immersed in a heated conversation with someone who Sam presumed to be his informant.

"What's going on?" Sam asked as he approached, quite sure he wasn't going to like the answer to that question.

"Boychuk here was just asking me if I could slap another year onto his sentence."

Boychuk glared back at Boyd, unimpressed by his threat. "I'm not about to die for your fucking operation."

"What's he talking about?" Sam asked Boyd, growing increasingly uneasy as the situation progressed.

"Nothing, it's just a little snag."

Boychuk snorted in derision. "Hautaway is dead, you call that a snag? I heard it was because he fucked up a deal. You think Brennan's gonna have _any_ sympathy on me when he finds out I've been talking to the police!" His voice rose in desperation, the fear evident.

"Don't play the victim card with me, I'm not buying it. You knew the risks, you wanted time off your sentence and I wanted an in with Boyd. It was mutually beneficial; don't act like you did me any favors." Boyd refuted, equally unimpressed.

"Well, you know what _Donovan, _it no longer benefits me. So, arrest me if you want, my tombstone is not going to read 'Here lies Chad Boychuk, Boyd's little bitch'. If your guy wants in, this is it, last chance."

One of Brennan's guys was dead? Well this seriously fucks things up. Sam regretted now, more than ever, getting tangled up in this mess. He definitely didn't like the sounds of Boychuk's last sentence.

"Last chance?"

"Yeah, I'll get you in for this week and then after that I'm done. I'm not gonna be in the middle of this shit anymore."

Sam turned to Boyd, deciding to let him fight this battle. This was his guy, if anyone was going to change his mind it would be Boyd.

Boyd seemed to be contemplating the right words, but the words he came up with were the last thing Sam expected.

"Fine this week, we'll be in touch." With those words he walked away and Sam was stunned into silence and immobilization for a second.

He registered Boyd's footsteps getting further away and he quickly snapped out of it and turned to follow him. When he caught up to Boyd he grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face him.

"What the fuck was that?" Sam hissed, as loudly as he dared. "You said I had weeks!"

Boyd grinned, a smile devoid of humor. "Plans change, JD."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Gahh, sorry it's taken so ridiculously long, but I've kind of been having trouble with this story lately. I've sort of been losing my inspiration, since it was really only supposed to be a one shot and now here it is chapter 10 lol. But I'll definitely finish it up and try hard to update quicker and hopefully you guys will stick around to the end :)**

* * *

><p>Andy took her seat at parade between Traci and Chris. She instinctively scanned the room for Sam as she did every morning. Her heart sank as she remembered that she wouldn't be seeing his crooked smile from across the room every morning now. For what must have been the hundredth time she cursed Brennan for existing, cursed Boyd for taking advantage of Sam at a vulnerable time, and she cursed Sam for getting himself caught right in the middle of all of the madness. She had just seen him last night and already, she missed him so much she could scarcely breath.<p>

"Andy, are you okay?" Chris asked her, noticing the way she was practically hyperventilating.

Get it together, she chided herself, you're at work. You'll have plenty of time to break down later, at home.

"I'm fine," she answered, plastering a fake smile on her face and regulating her breathing.

He didn't look like he believed a word, but mercifully Best walked in the room at that moment, ceasing all conversations. Best started talking, preventing Chris from asking another question that she could see was just on the tip of his tongue. He settled for watching her out of the corner of his eye, raising his eyebrows in question. She just smiled back stiffly, pretending to not notice his concern.

She loved Chris for being so worried about her - he was well aware that this was the first day of Sam's op - but she just couldn't talk about this here. Not unless she wanted to break her rule of waiting until she was in the privacy of her own apartment to break down. So, yeah she was smiling, and saying she was fine, because if she allowed the truth to cross her lips there was no way she would be able to hold it together for 9 more hours. She was surprised that she had actually managed to keep up the charade when Sam told her they had much less time than he had originally thought, when he had held for the last time, when he kissed her goodbye..

_She heard the front door of her apartment open and close and she knew it was Sam using the key she had given him the other day. Without turning away from the stove she started talking quickly._

_"Hey, you're here, good. I was afraid I was going to have to eat all this food myself. Do you think you could set out the wine and wine glasses? I'm almost done with the potatoes. You like scalloped potatoes, right? If you don't I can make..." she trailed off abruptly once she realized that he hadn't spoken a word since entering her apartment._

_She turned around slowly, unsure of what she was about to face. Her eyes landed on Sam, still lingering by the doorway, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans and looking nothing like a man about to make the most of the precious little time he had left with his girlfriend. She waited for him to speak, to explain his silence, to explain the look of defeat that seemed as if it were permanently etched into his features. She braced herself for the pain, but thought, what else could he possibly throw at me? Hadn't her worst fear already been realized? But as it turned out fate was about to throw those words right back in her face with an unrelenting cruelty._

_"Andy...I have to tell you something. Can we sit down?" he said finally, breaking the stifling silence. He walked over to her, putting his hand on her arm and pushing gently._

_"No," she answered, her body becoming rigid. "I don't want to sit down. Just tell me, please, because I'm imagining every worst case scenario right now."_

_He sighed and ran his hand through his unruly hair. "There's been a bit of a hiccup with my op..."_

_A hiccup? What did that even mean?_

_"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, afraid of the answer._

_As Sam explained his meeting with Boyd and his informant and the resulting outcome__ she could feel herself going numb. She knew, of course, that the time was going to come that they would have to say goodbye, but to say she had been steadfastly avoiding that reality would be an understatement. She wasn't mentally prepared for this, not yet. But whether she liked or not, Sam __**would **__be leaving in a week. So she had a choice to make; she could continue to be strong and support him, or she could choose now to let go of all the feelings she'd been holding back, the feelings that were now threatening to overwhelm her._

_She loved him enough to choose the former._

_So she assuaged his fears and told him not to worry about her, that she would miss the hell out of him, but she would be okay._

_"You just worry about taking Brennan down as soon as possible so you can come back to me." she said in a tone that she hoped conveyed optimism._

_He promised her he would be back as soon as he possibly could. He told how much he was going to miss her, how much he loved her... And later he whispered similar sentiments in her ear as he showed her just how much he loved her.__  
><em>  
>Chris' voice in her ear snapped Andy back to the present. "Andy, are you coming?"<p>

She looked around to find the room to be completely empty aside from her and Chris. She hurried out before Chris could ask her any questions, but he matched her quick pace stride for stride.

"Uh, Chris, don't you have to go with your riding partner?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound completely rude and ungrateful. Because she was grateful for Chris and his friendship, she just couldn't deal with his well meaning prying right now.

"You are my riding partner," he chuckled. "Were you totally zoned out that whole time?"

"Oh, I guess I was."

Andy waited with baited breath for Chris to bring up their punctuated conversation from earlier. Once they were settled into their patrol car and on the road Chris finally spoke, breaking the silence that had descended upon them.

"So, I'm sensing that you don't want to talk about this, and that's fine. But just know that when or if you do need to talk, I'm here." He nodded after he was finished speaking, as if satisfied that he had said everything he wanted to say.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Chris, that really means a lot."

After a small bout of comfortable silence Andy spoke up.

"So, Chris, how have you been? You know, since everything with Gail."

Chris filled her in on everything from his damaged, but on the way to being repaired, friendship with Dov, and his seemingly unsalvageable relationship with Gail. Andy listened intently, glad for the distraction and happy to have her friend back. They had both been a little preoccupied lately with their respective relationship drama.

* * *

><p>Sam closed the door of his house and walked resolutely to his truck, adamant to not turn back. There would be no looking back now; only forward.<p>

He drove leisurely to the station, probably breaking records on how long the, customarily 20 minute drive, took him. He finally pulled into the station and drove around to the back. Boyd was leaning against what appeared to be a brand new Escalade, and glancing at his watch with a scowl fixed on his face; he didn't appear to be in the best of moods. Sam showing up late to their meeting probably didn't improve his spirits any.

"What's this?" Sam asked gesturing to the SUV, as he shut the door of his truck.

"Your new ride," Boyd answered, in clipped tones.

He raised his eyebrows and tried not to look too impressed. He knew there was a reason he loved this job.

"Well, it sure screams subtlety. I'll definitely fly under the radar with _that_." What was he doing? Trying to talk Boyd out of giving him this car? Shit, he needed to give his head a shake.

Boyd scowled.

"Your job isn't to fly under the radar. Your Job is to get in good with Brennan and earn his trust. We need him to believe that you're actually _good_ at what you do." He rapped his knuckles on the hood of the car.

Sam just raised his eyebrows in response. He wasn't about to admit out loud that Boyd was right.

Boyd produced a manila envelope seemingly out of nowhere and began pulling things out of it.

"Here are your keys," he said, tossing them unceremoniously in Sam's direction. "Your license, and your phone. Which nobody aside from me should have the number for." He glared at Sam meaningfully.

He rolled his eyes. "I know that. I've done this once or twice, remember?"

"Yeah, well your circumstances were different back then." he replied, not so subtly referring to Andy.

"I'm not stupid. I may not want to be here, but I know what it takes to get the job done and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Glad to hear it." he said, with no trace of sarcasm. Was it just Sam's imagination or were they flagging a truce?

"Well, I should get going." He stuffed the phone and license in his pocket and unlocked the Escalade.

He was opening the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Surprised, he spun around.

"Good luck, Swarek." Boyd stated sincerely.

Hmm, truce indeed.

"Thanks,"

He jumped into the car and sped out of the parking lot; again fighting the automatic impulse to take one last glance at the life he was leaving behind.

As he drove to his new apartment he let his mind drift to the previous evening; his last with Andy.

No matter how hard she tried to mask her emotions, he could read her like a book. He hated the defeated look on her face, especially because he was the one to put it there. She was without a doubt holding it together better than he had expected, but he could tell that it was definitely going to take it's emotional toll on her.

Boyd had been right about one thing though; his circumstances were undeniably different this time around. In his past undercover work he had been unrestrained, there were no relationships to distract him from the job at hand and as a result he was focused, and he was one of the best undercover officers to come through 15th division. He certainly didn't mind the prestige of being so highly touted by his superiors.

But those were different times, things had changed. While he still loved undercover work, there was something he found he loved more; Andy. He wasn't lying when he said he would give this all up for her if he could. He would, in a heartbeat.

* * *

><p>Sam pulled into the parking spot smoothly, loving the handle of the vehicle. He grabbed his bag from the back seat and made his way to his new fifth floor studio apartment. He turned the key in the lock and swung the door open. He stepped inside and surveyed the room quickly.<p>

Not too bad.

He unclenched his fingers and flicked his wrist. The duffel bag landed with a soft thud next to the bed; _his_bed now. He sat down on edge of the bed, testing the firmness of the mattress. Sam was very particular about his mattresses.

He let the upper half of his body fall onto the bed and clasped his hands together behind his head. The mattress was decent, not great, but it would do. After his assessment of the mattress was complete Sam's eyes focused on the rusty red color of the ceiling and walls.

Red paint, he thought vaguely, I never would have picked that color in a million years but it works somehow.

He stared up at the ceiling assessing the color of the paint as he laid in the bed that was now his, with the mattress that lacked firmness and he knew what he was doing.

He knew he was just distracting himself from thinking about this operation and the potential danger, and he was _definitely _distracting himself from thinking about what it would do to Andy if, God forbid, anything did go wrong.

But he couldn't let any of that take up any space in his already crowded brain, not anymore. Because if this _was _going to work, and he was going to go safely home when it was all over, he _had_ to completely become this character, this JD. And JD didn't know Andy McNally. All JD knew, all JD _cared_ about was making that deal and getting that cut.

He'd been around the block a few times in Guns and Gangs and he knew that anything less than _total _commitment to the character from day one was damn near suicidal. So he pushed away thoughts of Andy McNally, thoughts of Donovan Boyd, and thoughts of Sam Swarek. Not without difficulty though, not without the utmost difficulty.

At that moment Sam Swarek ceased to exist, and JD emerged.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam heard a knock at his door, and he forced himself to open his eyes. A quick glance at the clock confirmed his suspicions that it was much too early for any company bearing good news; but then it wasn't often that JD received any pleasant callers. He rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt before nudging the door open slightly.

He was greeted by the smirking face of Jamie Brennan. The man was much too smug for such an ungodly hour. Sam opened the door wide, allowing his 'boss' to come inside.

"You're up awfully early." Sam commented, attempting conversation.

"Now, JD,who said I ever went to sleep."

A slight raise of the eyebrows was Sam's only response. He waited for Brennan to announce his reason for showing up at his apartment; he knew better than to ask. If Sam had learned anything about his employer in the past 5 weeks it was that Jamie Brennan operated on a strictly need to know basis, and if you didn't need to know why he was knocking on your door at 5am then you bet your ass you wouldn't be finding out.

"Want something to drink?" Sam asked, more to fill the silence than anything else.

Brennan ignored his question. He walked around Sam's apartment eyeing it up and down as if he were a realtor surveying the property. Sam would be lying if he said that he wasn't at least a little nervous about what this could be about. His cop senses were buzzing; something was off here.

"You got a girl, JD?"

Sam was thrown off for a second by the sheer randomness of the question, but he had good instincts and didn't let his surprise show.

"Nope. I don't need any of that shit tying me down, you know, with my profession." Sam smirked, hoping he was the picture of a man completely unattached.

Brennan nodded, as if he'd already known the answer to this question.

"Always good to be focused on the work, but don't let this job become your life."

What the hell was this about? Jamie Brennan was a busy man, he was no nonsense. He did not stop by his employees houses to chat about their love lives; or lack thereof. Sam was becoming increasingly suspicious of Brennan's motives. After another bout of silence Brennan finally arrived at his point.

"There's a deal going down tonight. Be at Gyer's Pier at midnight." Without another word Brennan turned on his heel and walked briskly out the door.

Need to know basis indeed. Could that have been any vaguer? If there was one thing Sam hated above all it was going into a situation unprepared; he liked to have as much as intel as possible before heading into anything that held any possibility of danger. Now the only information he had was the location and time of the meeting. It appeared he didn't have any choice in the matter, however. He would just have to make the best of the situation, and put his training to good use.

Sam decided not to worry about that which was beyond his control and trudged back to bed, praying sleep would find him soon.

* * *

><p>"McNally, Best wants to see you in his office." Her fellow officer walked away before Andy could ask what it was regarding.<p>

How could she possibly be in trouble? She had been pushing paperwork all week. In fact she couldn't think of a single reason Best would need to see her. She had, quite frankly, been at her best the past few weeks. (Which made it all the more frustrating to be sentenced to desk duty, but it was a necessary evil for any police officer.)

She has been sharp, focused, and dead on as far as her instincts; she was solving case after case. It was safe to say that Andy McNally was on a roll. Sam would be proud of the cop she was becoming.

Sam.

Had something happened to him? Suddenly Andy couldn't walk fast enough. She brushed by Dov who was saying something to her, but she didn't slow her pace. She pushed aside the glass door of Best's office without knocking, which was very bad form, but she couldn't be bothered to care.

She gasped when a chair opposite Best's spun around to reveal none other than Donovan Boyd. Oh God, this was about Sam. With what little composure she had left she managed to get out,

"What's going on?" Her voice was frantic and she ignored the gesture for her to take a seat.

Boyd eyed her with distaste.

"Relax McNally; you look like somebody just killed your puppy." God, she hated his nonchalance.

"Don't." She knew she was flirting with danger, talking to her superior in that tone, but as had been pointed out; she wasn't exactly rational when it came to Sam. "Don't joke, until someone tells me that nothing is wrong with Sam!"

Boyd rolled his eyes.

"Swarek's fine, this is about you. Now sit down." His tone left no room for discussion.

Andy sat down, feeling a little foolish for having jumped to conclusions and barging into her boss' office.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"McNally," Best addressed her now, seeming to forgive her little outburst. "It's that time of year again."

Andy raised her eyebrows in question.

"Time for all the second year officers to have their first undercover competition."

Andy blushed as she realized the reason for her summoning. She should have remembered that it was today. Dov and Chris had been trash talking each other the entire preceding week, placing bets on how much more money one would make over the other. It was a long standing tradition at 15th precinct for the 2nd year coppers to pose as drug dealers for the day and whoever returned to the station with the most money was the winner. All the winner received was bragging rights, although word was that the winner of the competition usually held favor amongst Guns N Gangs if they ever needed a younger officer in one of their operations.

Everyone always appreciated a little undercover work as a break from routine, although not all were cut out for it. Which was another reason this competition was held; to see who could hold their own in UC and who couldn't.

After she was given a short debriefing - and a bus token - Andy emerged from Best's office in a much clearer frame of mind than when she had entered. As she stepped into the hall she almost collided with Dov.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, the concern visible in his eyes.

"Yeah, sorry about earlier. I was just letting my imagination run wild. But what's up?"

"So, get this; Chris thinks he's going to beat me by $200." He laughed in disbelief. "Do you believe that?"

The ride in Boyd's car was uncomfortable to say the least. Even Dov hadn't been his usual chatty self, picking up on the tension in the vehicle. Andy climbed out as soon as the car screeched to a halt; grateful to no longer be in a confined space with her least favourite coworker. After a couple more clipped instructions, Boyd made a sharp U turn and quickly became no more than a spec in the distance.

The group of second years shuffled along slowly, unsure of where exactly they were headed.

"Well I'll see you guys." Dov said from the back of the pack.

Andy turned around. "Where are you going?"

"Boyd dropped us in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a bus token. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out we're supposed to take the bus downtown."

"Maybe it's for emergencies." Chris interjected.

"He said use what we know." He flipped his bus token in the air and caught it with a smirk. "I'm using what I know."

They watched as Dov walked in the opposite direction. A minute later Chris followed.

"Chris!" Gail shouted frantically after his retreating figure.

Chris waved his hand impatiently keeping on his path. The girls could hear as Chris and Dov argued all the way to the bus stop.

"Well it looks like it's just us girls." said Traci.

Gail scoffed.

"Oh no, I'm flying solo. The last thing I need is for you to burn me like you did on your last 'undercover' job." She put air quotes around undercover, letting Andy know exactly what she thought of her future in GnG.

Andy held up her hands in retreat. "Fine by me."

And then there were two.

Andy spotted a car rushing towards them and on a whim she flagged it down. The window rolled down to reveal a harried looking woman and her two kids. Andy started talking with absolutely no forethought as to what she was actually going to Say.

Somehow words just started pouring out of her mouth.

"Hi, sorry, my name's Candace. I'm in town for a conference, a silly conference really, on overwriting; insurance overwriting, new avenues." She was rambling, oh God she was rambling, but the woman seemed to be buying it. "Anyways, we were actually on a shuttle to the airport, but she had to pee, so we got off at the last hotel stop and I stupidly followed her and when I came back out the shuttle was gone."

"That's terrible." the woman sympathized.

"I know, all of our bags, purses, everything is gone. I mean it's a nightmare; I'm living a nightmare right now. Is there any way we could get a ride?" Please, please let this work.

"I'm sorry, I'm already late. Here, just grab a cab." The woman handed Andy a bill through the open window.

"Wow, thank you." The woman drove away and Andy held up the bill triumphantly. "Ha! Twenty dollars."

"Candace the insurance over writer?" Traci asked amused.

"Hey, no making fun. I got us something to start with." Andy hailed a cab and motioned for Traci to follow. "Come on. I have an idea."

They pulled up to the Alpine and Traci eyed the decrepit building doubtfully.

"A dive bar?"

Andy paid the driver the fare, begrudgingly parting with half her money.

"I have an idea." Andy repeated

She remembered, a while back, Sam mentioning the Alpine in passing when speaking of his prior UC ops as a popular hangout for drug dealers. Which, she told herself, was the only reason she directed the cab to this location. Not because she was actually holding out some asinine hope that Sam might be there at just the right (or wrong, depending on how you looked at it) time. No, because that would be extremely foolish and unprofessional to hope to run into an officer who was on a very important, very discreet operation. And Andy was anything but foolish and unprofessional, right?

She pushed open the heavy door to the bar and immediately her senses were assailed by the smell of booze, cigarette smoke, and sweat.

What a charming aroma.

"So what's your plan, Candace?" Traci asked, speaking as lowly as the pounding bass permitted.

"Just, trust me."

Andy led the way deeper into the bar, undoing a few buttons on her blouse as she walked. They made their way to the back corner where a pool table stood under very bad lighting, and the two men playing eyed them suspiciously. Andy rested her hand on the edge of the table and leaned over, effectively causing the stockier man to miss his shot.

"Mind if we join, boys?"

An hour later - mostly because of Traci's surprising skill - they were one hundred dollars richer. (Okay, so it was entirely due to Traci's skill. Was it Andy's fault that she'd only played a couple times here and there at the Penny?)

As Andy and Traci were counting their winnings inconspicuously as possible**,**they were approached by a silver haired man who appeared to be in his early 40's. Andy had the distinct feeling that she knew this man, but she couldn't put a name to the face.

"How would you like a chance to double that money?" the man asked, nodding towards the bills in Traci's hand.

Andy glanced around. "Where's your teammate?"

The man smiled at her patronizingly.

"Sweetheart, I've been watching and you're just dragging your partner down." He turned to Traci to address her. "One on one, double or nothing. What do you say?"

Traci turned a questioning gaze on Andy.

"Go ahead. I'm just going to go get a drink."

Andy turned to make her way to the bar, her ego a little bruised. Yeah, she sucked at pool, but did the guy have to be such an ass about it?

"Alright, you're on -" Traci trailed off, waiting for the man to fill in the blanks.

"Jamie. Jamie Brennan."

Andy stopped short for a second, but quickly regained her composure; she didn't need to draw any attention to herself.

Jamie Brennan, as in Jamie Brennan drug dealer, as in Jamie Brennan suspected murderer, as in the very same Jamie Brennan Sam was working for. Andy could feel her heart beating out of her chest as she sat at the bar trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

She ordered a drink and tried not to be too obvious in her appraisal of the man that had stolen the man she loved from her for 5 maddeningly slow weeks. For all appearances he seemed to be just like any other man, but after so many years in his 'business' you probably got pretty good at pretending to be somebody you're not.

Andy was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice two men sitting behind her at the bar until she heard a name that put her on instant alert.

"Yeah, we're Meeting JD at midnight." Her ears immediately perked up at the mention of Sam's undercover name. She could hear the quotations around the word meeting, and already her instincts were buzzing.

She stayed glued to her seat at the bar, determined not to move an inch, lest the men realize they had an audience.

"Did he tell you why -?" The other man started, but he was promptly cut off.

"No, he didn't tell me why! And I didn't ask. Jamie Brennan tells you to do something, you do it. No questions asked." he hissed lowly.

Andy shivered involuntarily at the menace in the man's voice. Something was definitely wrong here.

"Okay, okay," Andy imagined he had his hands up in defense. "Where is it again?"

"Gyer's Pier."

Andy felt a tap at her shoulder and she whirled around quickly.

"Whoa," Traci said, the surprise registering in her voice. "It's just me. Look, I think we should get out of here. Move along."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

When she turned around the two men at the bar were gone. She immediately felt a sense of panic, and looked down at her watch.

11:45.

Once they were outside Andy pulled Traci away from the entrance and recounted the conversation she overheard.

"Doesn't that sound suspicious to you?"

"Andy, they're drug dealers. They don't exactly have the most normal conversations."

"I still say something's not right. We should go down there, just make sure everything is alright."

Traci's eyes widened.

"That is the last thing we should do. Boyd would have our badges for interfering in one of his ops! This time knowing full well what we're doing."

"Boyd doesn't have to know." Andy insisted, "Come on, nobody has to know. We'll go there, stay out of sight, make sure everything's kosher and then leave."

Traci still didn't look convinced and Andy shot her a pleading look.

"Alright." she relented, "I still think it's a horrendously bad idea, but I'm sure you're going to do this with or without me and I can't let you go alone."

"Let's go, we don't have much time."

They jumped into a waiting cab and Andy hurriedly told him their destination.

She tapped her fingers on the door handle impatiently as the clock ticked closer and closer to midnight. Finally at 12:15 they pulled up to the abandoned dock. Andy paid the driver the fare and twenty extra to wait for them. Of course, he demanded an another twenty when Andy told him to park down the road with his lights off.

They walked in silence, taking care to stay hidden. The shipyard was dark, rundown, and dirty, not to mention utterly deserted, it looked like nobody had been here for years.

"I don't think anyone's here." Traci whispered, just as they happened upon a scene straight out of Andy's nightmares.

The two men that she presumed were the two from the Alpine were beating a bound and gagged Sam literally within an inch of his life. She was close enough to see the pure, unadulterated agony flowing through his eyes, eyes that were fluttering; he was clearly teetering on the edge of consciousness.

She was about to make a run for it when she was grabbed from behind.

"Let me go!" Andy hissed venomously, struggling against Traci's vice grip on her middle.

"Andy! Stop! They'll kill you!"

"Let me go, or I swear I'll elbow you in the face." She didn't even know what she was saying anymore at this point.

"Please, stop. Let's think for a second! We need a plan."

Fuck that. "Okay,"

Traci slowly released her hold. As soon she was free Andy bent down to pick up a piece of scrap metal, ran in the direction the came, and threw it as hard as she could against the metal warehouse door. Quickly**,**she ran back to Traci's side and crouched low, pulling a stunned Traci with her.

The men stopped short, whirling in the direction of the noise and Sam's eyes popped open, suddenly focused and alert.

"What the fuck was that? He said this place has been abandoned since '05!"

The burlier of the two men turned back to Sam and gave him a swift knee in the chest. Sam groaned in pain and Andy had to fight to keep her feet planted.

"You got off lucky this time, JD. You better watch your back."

With another furtive glance around the men disappeared into the shadows, leaving Sam in a pool of his own blood.

It was all Andy could do to stay rooted to that spot for another few minutes. As soon as she heard the sound of a car starting she shot to her feet and raced across the lot to where Sam lay.

"Oh my, God. Oh my, God." she chanted, taking in his bruised and battered form. It was much worse up close.

His eyes opened slowly.

"Andy?" he croaked weakly. Before she could respond his eyes closed again as he fell unconscious.

Traci put her fingers gently against his neck. "His pulse is weak. We have to get him to the hospital now."

With a strength and willpower Andy didn't even know she possessed**,**she and Traci carried Sam all the way back to their cab. They laid him across the backseat and Andy sat on the floor next to him. To the stunned cab driver she said,

"Met Hospital, now. I'm a police officer and I give you permission to break as many laws as it takes to get us there as soon as possible."

The cabbie was motionless for a second before he sprung into action, screeching away from the shoulder.

Andy brushed some hair away from his sweaty face and willed herself not to break down.

"Stay with me, Sam."

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><p><strong>AN: I think I'm getting back into this story. Leave me a review, let me know what you think. You might persuade me to update before I go on vaca :p<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Ahh, I know, it's been forever. You guys answered the call with all the reviews, but between work, hockey, and getting ready for my trip I just didn't have time. Sorry!**

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><p>The taxi sped up to the entrance to the hospital and Andy was practically out the door before it even came to a complete stop in front of the emergency doors. Traci appeared at her side and they began to pull Sam out of the cab as quickly as they could without jostling him too much. Mercifully, a paramedic noticed their struggles and promised to be right back with a stretcher. The two minutes it took him to come back were the longest of Andy's life. At least when they were in the cab they were Moving, and she could feel like they were getting closer to helping Sam, but just standing outside the hospital waiting for the stretcher Andy felt utterly helpless.<p>

The paramedic came rushing back with a stretcher and another paramedic to help him. Andy watched them load Sam onto the stretcher as if detached from the entire situation; she felt oddly like she was watching a stranger's life on TV. The next 5 minutes passed in a blur as Andy jogged next to the stretcher answering the paramedic's questions regarding the accident. Andy had enough presence of mind to inform them that this was No accident. She could barely keep her voice level as she described how she and Traci had come upon the scene of Sam being beaten by the two thugs.

Her hand reached instinctively reached for her gun, only to realize she wasn't armed. Which was extremely lucky for the two lowlifes, because she knew nothing could have stopped her from killing them, had she had the means necessary.

A few minutes later Andy was vaguely aware of Traci leading her somewhere. She pushed gently on Andy's shoulders and Andy sat obediently in what she now realized was a waiting room chair.

Tears prickled the corner of her eyes, but she forced them back. She had to be strong.

"What if he doesn't make it?" she whispered, giving voice to her biggest fear.

"He will, Andy! He will."

She sounded so sure that it instilled more confidence in Andy. She shifted in her seat, leaning on Traci both literally and figuratively. She was glad her friend was here, she was sure she couldn't do this without her.

Traci pulled away saying she was going to call the station and Andy snapped out of the daze she'd been under.

The station.

Boyd.

This was his fault. This was his operation. How the hell could he let something like this happen?

She jumped up from her seat and starting pacing anxiously, suddenly on high alert. Traci walked back over, and Andy was on her immediately to find out what happened.

"What did he say?" she asked eagerly.

"Best and Boyd are on their way. Boyd didn't sound too pleased about _how_ we found Sam though."

"Why the hell would he care _how_ we found him just as long as we _found _him?"

Traci shrugged. "I don't know, we did break protocol."

Andy shook her head. "I don't trust him."

"Andy...what are you getting at?"

"I don't know. I have a feeling that Sam had been made, but he's one of the best undercover officers in the city; Boyd has said so himself. There's no way he would have given himself away. Boyd must have messed something up, it's the only explanation."

"Andy, I would tread lightly if were you." Traci said in warning. "You don't want to go around accusing your superiors of something when you have no proof to back up your suspicions."

"You're right. I know you're right, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's more to this situation than meets the eye."

Andy continued her pacing, finding she just couldn't sit still. Every time a doctor so much as looked in her direction she tensed, wondering if he or she was the one that was going to either put her back together or destroy her.

"McNally,"

She spun around towards the entrance to see Best and Boyd striding quickly towards her. They approached her and Best put a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened?"

Andy quickly relayed the story of what she had overheard in the bar and the scene they had come upon at the shipyard, wondering why Best was making her repeat a story that Traci had already told him.

Best glanced at her sternly, but didn't reprimand her; he must have realized that this was not the time nor place. Boyd, however, didn't seem to have any similar reservations.

"What the hell were you doing following those guys? Shit, McNally, you just _love _to get yourself mixed up in my ops, don't you?"

"Why did I follow them? Because I sensed that Sam was in trouble, and I was right! But you're right, this is _your_ operation. So why the hell was it _me_ coming to Sam's rescue? What kind of op are you running here?"

Boyd's eyes widened in fury, but it was too late to take her words back. She realized she had just done exactly what Traci had warned her not to. She had just insulted a superior officer. There was really no way of salvaging this situation. Well then, she thought, might as well let him know exactly what I think of him.

"Where do you get off telling me how to run my ops, rookie?" he spat out, saying rookie as if it were a dirty word.

"I don't know. Where do _you_ get off scolding me after I just saved the life of one of your men, while you just sat on your ass?"

"Andy!" Traci exclaimed, trying to keep her friend in check.

Boyd took a menacing step closer.

"I'd watch how you talk to your superior if I were you, rookie." he threatened.

"You don't feel very _superior_ at the moment."

"McNally, watch yourself." Best interrupted, before Boyd could respond. "I understand this is a hard time for you, but that gives you _no_right to speak to a superior officer in that way. Now go sit down before I'm forced to take you back to the station and write you up!"

Andy walked sheepishly back to her chair, embarrassed to have had such a meltdown in front of her boss, but she held firm in her position that Donovan Boyd was the devil reincarnate.

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><p>What seemed like hours after they had arrived at the hospital, but in reality was only thirty minutes, a doctor made her way towards them.<p>

"Is this the family of Sam Swarek?"

Andy jumped up. "I'm his girlfriend, and we're his coworkers. His sister is on her way. Is he alright?"

The doctor hesitated if only for a split second, but it was enough to raise the hair on the back of Andy's neck.

"He has a concussion, also four broken ribs, one of which has punctured his right lung. I will be taking him into surgery immediately. There is no reason to believe that the surgery will go anything but smoothly. I will have one of my residents come out to give you periodic updates. I assure you I will do everything I can."

Andy shook hands with the doctor and then watched as she walked away towards the ER, where she would hold in her hands the most important thing in Andy's life.

As Andy sat in the waiting room between Traci and Sarah, she daydreamed. She daydreamed about a life where she didn't have to worry about the safety of Sam's life on a daily basis. She wondered what life would be like had she and Sam chosen a different profession. There were plenty of perfectly safe, mundane career paths they could have taken. They could live their safe, boring lives and have children without fear of one day leaving them without a parent. They could live their lives without the constant fear that the person they loved most in the world wouldn't be home for dinner that night.

Andy had to admit it was a tempting fantasy, but she always came back to the simple fact that if one or both of them had chosen a different career they most likely would have never met. And although Andy could envision a different career, a different lifestyle, she could _not _imagine a life without Sam. Also, her job had shaped her into the person she was today. So all in all, although there were definite drawbacks to the job she and Sam had, she knew it was the job they would both keep for the rest of their lives. It was what they loved.

She tried to keep her thoughts positive, but every now and then doubts would creep into her mind. When Dr. Cristof - the resident keeping them informed - was late for his hourly updates, Andy assumed the worst. Nevertheless**,**he came by 5 minutes later stating again that everything was going well.

Andy clutched Traci's hand tightly, pretty sure that she was dangerously close to cutting off her friend's circulation. She couldn't help it though; it was as if Traci's hand was a tether, the only thing anchoring her to reality.

Dr. Cristof came walking towards them and Andy's heart raced as it did every time she caught sight of the resident. Be good news, be good news, she chanted relentlessly. He must have sensed Andy's nervousness because he sent her a reassuring smile.

"The surgery went very well, but the next few hours are very crucial."

Andy breathed out a sigh of relief; it felt like it was the first time she had breathed since she and Traci had found Sam.

"Can we see him?" She wanted to say I, can _I_ see him, but she knew she wasn't the only one worried about him.

Dr. Cristof hesitated. "He needs his rest. We have given him sleeping pills; he'll be out until morning."

Andy wasn't about to leave though, no way in hell was she leaving until Sam opened his eyes and told her himself that he was okay.

"Would it be alright if I stayed with him? I wouldn't disturb him."

"Well...that's against our policy." He looked around, as if just remembering they were police officers, and seemed to decide to make an exception. "But it should be alright."

Andy nearly cried from relief; there was no way she could go home now. She got up from her seat, shook hands with Best, glared daggers at Boyd, - though she had to admit; she was impressed he was still here - and hugged Traci and Sarah in that order.

"I'll call you the second he wakes up." she promised. She dropped her key to Sam's into Sarah's hand. "Here's the key to Sam's house."

Sarah brushed a stray tear away. "Thanks, Andy."

After everyone had left**,**Andy made her way to Sam's room, barely restraining herself from breaking out into a run. She opened the door to his room and rushed to his side. She looked around at all the monitors he was hooked up to; it broke her heart to see him looking so helpless.

She stood over him, and very carefully pushed his hair out of his eyes. She kissed his forehead, careful not to jostle him in the slightest.

"I love you," she whispered to his prone form. "I don't know if I've told you this, but I can't live without you. So, please, please, come back to me."

She took his hand in hers and threaded their fingers together. Then she sat down in the chair next to him and memorized every feature on his face...

She was back at the boat yard. She watched as the men beat the life out of Sam. She watched as the agony slowly left his eyes, making way for emptiness. His mouth moved, and even though he was gagged she could hear him clear as day.

"Andy," he cried weakly.

She tried to run, but a thousand hands were holding her back and she was rooted to the spot.

"Andy," he repeated in the same bleak monotone.

"Get off of me!" she screamed at the hands, using every last ounce of strength to pry them off of her.

"Andy!" said a different voice, and she jolted awake.

She opened her eyes to see Dr. Cristof looming over her. She shrank back instinctively, still shaken.

"Andy, it's alright. You were just having a dream."

Just a dream, easy for him to say. It was a nightmare is what it was, a nightmare that had very nearly become reality. She shivered involuntarily at the thought.

"Andy," She was about to snap on the doctor if he tried to tell her again how it was 'just a dream', then she realized it wasn't him speaking.

She snapped her head to the left to see Sam looking back at her. She jumped up and brought the hand that wasn't still clasping his, up to his face, caressing softly. A tear escaped her eyes without her permission, sliding slowly down her cheek.

"Sam," she whispered awestruck by simply being able to stare into his eyes. "Oh my God, I was so worried about you. I thought I was going to lose you."

The tears were now streaming freely.

"Water," he croaked.

Andy grabbed the water sitting on the bedside table and led the straw to his lips. He drank greedily for a few moments, and then turned back to Andy.

"I'm so sorry," were the first words out of his mouth.

"No, don't be sorry. I'm just _so_ glad you're alright. Please, never leave me again." Her voice was raw with emotion, as she fought in vain to keep the tears at bay.

She leaned in to kiss him and thought that maybe, this time, she would never stop.


	13. Chapter 13

Andy waited a healthy fifteen minutes before she launched into cop mode; she couldn't bear to keep quiet another second. Really, she should be congratulated for holding out as long as she had.

"So..." she started, aiming for nonchalance."What happened out there?"

Sam frowned as he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Everything in his head felt muddled, and he had to expend a lot of energy just to try to recall the events of yesterday. He remembered the morning - or the night rather - Brennan coming by and telling him a deal was going down at Gyer's Pier. He relayed this information to Andy and she nodded furiously, a determined look on her face.

"When I got there I didn't see anyone else. I was kind of confused; I mean why would Brennan send me on a deal alone? But I figured it was just another one of his quirks; the guy's not your typical drug dealer. So I'm just waiting there for the other party to arrive when I'm conked on the head from behind.

"When I came to I was tied up and gagged. They pushed me up against 'my boat' and said 'So much for God's good grace, huh?', like that was supposed to mean something to me. And then they started beating me..."

Andy gasped involuntarily, even though she already knew that part of the story; she had witnessed it after all.

"Your boat? What do you mean your boat?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, the boat Boyd gave me. It's how JD supposedly shipped his drugs in."

Andy frowned in concentration, wondering what the connection could mean. She also couldn't escape the feeling that she'd heard that name before. She focused back on Sam and noticed his eyelids drooping.

"Are you alright?" Her hands fluttered around his body, wishing she could do something, anything, to make his pain go away.

"Yeah," he mumbled softly, "just tired."

With that, his eyes closed and he fell back to sleep.

Andy felt bad for tiring him out, but at least now she had something to go on. She was going to find out all there was to know about _God's Good Grace._

Andy left the hospital, greeting Sarah on her way out, with promises to be back as soon as possible. She jumped into her car - which Traci and Sarah had been kind enough to drop off at the hospital for her - and headed to the station.

As soon as she stepped in the doors she was surrounded; officers converging on her from all sides with questions of Sam's state. She informed them all that he was doing well, as she tried to shake off the feeling of claustrophobia; she knew they were all just worried about Sam. Slowly, she made her way over to a door she always, as a rule, tried to avoid. She gave a tentative knock and took a sharp step back.

The door swung open and Luke looked up from a file, surprise clearly written across his face.

"Andy! What can I do for you?"

He sounded a little too happy to see her. Did he think she had forgotten his little comment that had led to her break up with Sam? She brushed it off though; she couldn't exactly criticize him and ask him for help in the same breath.

"I was wondering what you know about a boat by the name of _God's Good Grace_."

"I've heard of it." he replied vaguely. He gestured for her to take a seat opposite him. "Why?"

Andy repeated the information that Sam had given her.

Luke's brow furrowed. "Are you sure that was the name of Swarek's boat?"

"Yeah definitely. Why?"

"Andy...that boat was part of a high profile drug raid. It was one of the biggest busts of the year. It was all over the news."

Andy's mouth opened and closed slowly as she tried to process this new information. That would certainly explain why the boat name had sounded familiar.

"That...that can't be!"

Luke nodded adamantly. "It is. It was my rookie year as a detective, and I'll never forget it because I actually played a small role in the bust."

The look on his face was reminiscent of a cop earning his badge. Again, Andy didn't appreciate his expression; the nonchalance written on his face as he took a mental trip down memory lane. Didn't he understand what this meant? Boyd _was _to blame! There was really no other explanation. She whirled around. Her hand was on the doorknob when she felt a hand at her shoulder.

"Andy, what are you doing?"

"Going to tell Best!" No way in hell was she letting Boyd get away with this.

"Andy, wait, you can't do that."

"Like hell I can't. He nearly got Sam killed!" She tore her shoulder from his grip.

"If you go to Best now without any proof it's only going to end badly for you. Come on, let's figure this out. I'll help you."

She hated to admit that he was right. Reluctantly, she turned around and sat back down.

"Alright, what do we do?"

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><p>An hour later Andy and Luke were still perusing through files in search of something pertaining to the Wayne bust. Andy wondered aloud why the files were not better organized. Luke told her that the detective on the case had been notoriously sloppy. She sighed in frustration; it felt like they weren't accomplishing anything.<p>

Her phone buzzed with a text from Sam.

'Hey, where did you go?'

She felt guilty for leaving; hating that he woke up wondering where she was. He needed her right now. She typed out a response.

"I just had to go into work. I'm going to head back right now.'

Andy made the decision to not tell Sam about her 'investigation' until they came up with something solid. She didn't want him to worry, she wanted him to rest and focus on getting better.

"Hey, I'm gonna go back to the hospital for a bit. We can pick up where we left off when I get back?" She phrased it as a question, after all he was doing her a favor.

"Go ahead; I'll just keep at it until you get back."

She was surprised by the offer. He no doubt had lots of other work to do, but here he was offering to work on a hunch of hers while she went be with her boyfriend. It reminded her of the Luke that she used to know.

"Thanks, Luke, I really appreciate it."

He smiled wistfully; that look conveying more than words could at this moment.

She hurried back to the hospital, surprised at how much she had missed him in the short period of time. His crooked smile greeted her when she walked in the door, and the corners of her mouth turned up automatically and involuntarily.

"I missed you," she proclaimed.

"Mm, you too," he replied dreamily.

She laughed. "Weren't you sleeping?"

He smiled. "Yeah,"

"Wait," She studied him. "are you high?"

He held his thumb and forefinger apart marginally. She laughed again.

"My head hurt,"

She frowned at the reminder of what he'd been through.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up."

"That's alright. What's going on at work?"

"Maybe nothing," she replied, being purposely vague. Hopefully he didn't continue with this line of questioning.

The drugs they had him on must have been pretty strong, because he didn't push the issue. He just smiled at her and patted the bed next to him. She lay down dutifully and snuggled up next to him, careful to keep her hands away from the battered front of his body.

She must have drifted off, because the next thing she knew she was being jolted awake by the loud ringing of her cell phone. She hurried to turn it off, so as to not wake Sam up.

She checked her phone; it was a text from Luke. (Yeah, she still had his number stored in her phone - what's your point?)

'I found it.'

Her breath caught in her throat; she _needed_to see that file, now.

'I'll be right there.'

She kissed Sam on the forehead, and sent him a text saying she had to go back to work and that she would be back as soon as possible.

She kept her eyes trained on him as she walked away and therefore was not watching where she was going. She ran smack into none other than Donovan Boyd.

"McNally," he acknowledged stiffly. He held a hand out to steady her.

"Boyd," she replied, mimicking his tone.

She tried to dispel the nervousness that had overcome her the moment she noticed his presence. It was silly; it wasn't as if he could read her mind, as if he knew where she was headed and for what. Still she couldn't shake the feeling that Donovan Boyd knew more than he was letting on; that seemed to always be the case. The guy was cunning, Andy would give him that.

She moved to step around him, but a hand at her wrist stopped her in her tracks. A chill went down her spine as she fought the overwhelming urge to tell him just where he could shove that hand. She settled for firmly removing his hand from her arm.

"McNally, look, we both said stuff we shouldn't have last night - you especially, but I'm willing to put it behind us if you are."

Andy supposed that was a Boyd version of an apology. It was lacking in every sense of the word, but she didn't want to draw any necessary attention to herself; so she acquiesced, if only to conciliate him.

"Fine," He would be sorely disappointed if he thought he would be getting anything more from her.

She walked past him and this time he didn't make a move to stop her. This time when she arrived at the station she went around the back, so as to avoid any well-wishers. She told herself that she wasn't being _that _much of a bitch; if they were so concerned they could head down to the hospital and see him for themselves.

She entered Luke's office and without preamble asked,

"Where is it?"

In hindsight it was probably a bit rude to barge into his office, skip niceties and demand to see the file that _he_ had found for _her_, but she was too keyed up to pay attention to such things as manners. In any matter Luke didn't seem perturbed in the slightest; another thing Andy liked about him: he was very easygoing.

He handed her the file eagerly, as if he had just as much invested in this as she did. She took the file from him with equal vigor, wondering what could be inside. Her hands shook with nervousness. The contents of this file could have disastrous consequences; maybe for her for implicating an officer of much higher standing than herself, maybe for Boyd for deliberately sabotaging one of his own operations.

She decided she was ready for either outcome, and she flipped the flap of the manila folder open and began reading.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: I suck, I know. I don't really have any other excuse lol. I hope people are still into this story, but I guess I can't really blame anyone if they've lost interest. Review if you still like ;)**

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><p>"This can't be it," she said as she flipped through all the pages for the third time. Luke peered over her shoulder.<p>

"What?" he asked.

"It's like everything is here except anything that had to do with the boat..."

She handed Luke the papers to look over. She twiddled her thumbs nervously as he read. His brows furrowed and his expression twisted into one of confusion. Just as she had, he perused the file again, as if another paper would materialize out of thin air.  
>"This doesn't make sense, there has to be more to this file."<p>

Andy stood up to look over Luke's shoulder. To the unsuspecting person, everything in the file seemed to be in order, but Andy was definitely anything but unsuspecting. She slammed her palm down on the table in frustration.

"This is just bullshit! Sam almost dies because of Boyd, and there's no way to even prove it."

Her breath was ragged with emotion now. She slumped into Luke's chair and willed herself not to cry. She had been strong for Sam all this time, and she could stay strong just a little bit longer.

"Andy, look, this isn't the end of the road. Jamieson was the detective in charge of this case. He doesn't work here anymore, but I can find out where he does work and we'll go talk to him, to see what he knows about this, okay?"

Andy nodded dumbly, and Luke strode out of his office.

She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. It felt like this was the first time she really had to breath since the accident, and the reality of just how close she'd come to losing him crashed in around her. She tried to imagine her life without him and couldn't. It struck her as funny, how just a couple years ago she was walking around not even knowing he existed, and now he was the most important thing in her life. She was never letting him go undercover ever again, she didn't care how crazy or controlling that made her. Bottom line, she just wouldn't be able to handle it.

Luke walked back into his office, breaking Andy out of her thoughts.

"Got it, he works out of the 10th division."

Andy jumped up. "Let's go,"

What felt like hours later, but was really only 20 minutes, they pulled up to 10th precinct in Luke's car. She followed behind Luke and watched, dazed, as he asked for Detective Jamieson. As they waited she tried to keep expectations in check, she couldn't afford to get her hopes up. She drummed her fingers on the counter rhythmically.

An older man with grey hair and a protruding belly rounded the corner.

"Callaghan! What brings you to _Ten_?"

"Jamieson," Luke shook the other detective's hand. "Can we go to your office?"

Jamieson glanced quickly at Andy in her plain clothes. He nodded.

"Of course, of course,"

Jamieson led Andy and Luke into a spacious office at the end of the hall. He motioned for them to have a seat opposite him.

"So, what can I do for you?" He eyed Andy again, almost suspiciously. She frowned at his scrutiny.

"I had some questions about the Wayne case. I was hoping you could fill in some of the blanks."

He looked at Andy then back to Luke.

"Listen, Callaghan, no offense, but is it really appropriate to be discussing this in front of your girlfriend?"

Andy scoffed at his assumption. Luke opened his mouth to respond but Andy cut in.

"Hi, so rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Andy McNally, I work with Detective Callaghan at 15." She smiled at him sweetly and fakely.

He cleared his throat and shook her extended hand. "Right; my apologies. What can I do for you two?"

Andy let Luke take the lead again.

"We're looking into the Wayne case and some things don't add up. Do you remember his boat?"

"_God's Good Grace, _sure," he answered instantly. "I remember thinking it was an odd name for a drug dealer to name his boat. What about it?"

"Well, we were looking in the case file and it's like there's no record of the boat at all. Do you have any idea what that's about?"

Jamieson frowned. "I don't. Now I know my organizational skills are not superb…" Andy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "…but I would never misplace such an important document."

Luke passed him the file and his frown deepened.

"This isn't how I left this. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to tell you. Maybe it got filed into a different case accidentally."

"Maybe," Andy replied warily, not the least bit convinced.

Realizing that they weren't going to get anywhere with this lead, Luke stood up.

"Thanks for your time, Jamieson."

"Sure, I'm sorry I couldn't be more help."

_More_ help, Andy thought scornfully, that would imply that he had been Any help.

Luke and Andy made their way out of 10th and over to Luke's car. Andy was silent as she stewed over the dead end. She contemplated her next move - there wasn't exactly many options. She couldn't very well go to Best with little to no proof. It could be the end of her career.

As they arrived back at 15, Andy got an idea, which she immediately shared with Luke, which he, in turn, immediately shot down. He shook his head adamantly in the negative.

"Absolutely not. Andy, that's crossing a line. Do you know how much trouble you would be in if you got caught?"

She shrugged, unconcerned.

"So, I won't get caught. Which would be easier to pull off, if I had some help." She eyed Luke meaningfully.

He shook his head again.

"I'm sorry, Andy, I won't be a part of this. All I can do is warn you that this is a very bad idea."

"Fine, I respect that. I really appreciate your help thus far." She shook Luke's hand formally, and then turned on her heel. She could feel his concerned gaze burning into her back, but she wasn't changing her mind. She could not and would not just sit back and let Boyd get away with this.

She stopped Jerry as he passed by.

"Hey, Jerry, do you know if Boyd is around? I was hoping to talk to him."

"Nope, pretty sure he's still at the hospital. Which is where I'm headed. Shouldn't you be there?" His brow furrowed in confusion.

She smiled, hoping he didn't notice how fake it was.

"Yeah, I'm on my way. I just have something to wrap up here."

He didn't appear to be completely convinced.

"Alright, I'll see you later, McNally," he acquiesced with a slight nod.

Once Jerry was out of sight, Andy continued down the hall, glancing around every so often, checking her surroundings. Fortunately, there wasn't much going on at 15 today. With one more surreptitious look around, Andy slipped into a dark room. She uttered a silent prayer of thanks that Boyd had left his door unlocked.

She closed the door behind her quietly, and pulled out her cell phone, not daring to turn on the lights. She walked behind his desk and crouched down. She began opening drawers and pulling out papers. She knew it was a long shot; Boyd wasn't stupid, but she had to try. She rifled through all of his drawers with no luck. Andy turned her attention to the filing cabinet on the far wall. She pulled on each drawer but they were all locked. She returned to his desk, searching for a key when a shrill ringing shattered the silence. She instinctively ducked behind the desk.

"Shit!"

She quickly answered the phone.

"Hello," she whispered.

"Andy? Why are you whispering?" Sam asked. He sounded much more lucid than before.

She quickly jumped up and left Boyd's office after ensuring that the coast was clear.

"Was I?" she asked, returning to normal tones. "How are you feeling?" She hoped he wouldn't object to the subject change.

"Better. Although, I woke up for the second time and my girlfriend is nowhere to be found." Again she felt the twinge of guilt.

"Sorry, I'm just back at work."

"Really? I would think that Best would cut you some slack, today of all days."

"You know Best - serve, protect, and never take a day off." She laughed nervously; that didn't sound like something Best would say at all.

"Andy...Best is here and he says he doesn't have you working on anything. What's going on? Why are you lying to me?" he asked, barely concealing the hurt he felt.

Shit!

"Sam..." she started.

"I don't get it, Andy. Are you still mad because I went undercover?"

"No! That's not it at all." Everything was getting so jumbled. "Listen, I'll be at the hospital in twenty minutes and then I'll tell you everything, okay?"

He sighed. "Okay,"

"I love you," she reminded him.

"I love you, too,"

* * *

><p>When Andy arrived at the hospital Sam's room was overflowing with guests, which only spiked her guilt at not being there when he needed her. Even her friends were here.<p>

Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment as everyone watched her enter the room.

"Hi," she said sheepishly to the entire room.

An awkward silence descended on the room. Dov cleared his throat.

"Well, I think I'm going to go check out the cafeteria. Anyone else?"

Immediately everyone began coming up with excuses to leave the room, a not so subtle ploy to leave her and Sam alone. If it was possible, her cheeks got even redder.

When at last the room was clear Andy stood beside Sam at his bed. She took his hand in hers and couldn't help the tear that escaped her eye at the sight of him looking so fragile.

He reached up and wiped the tear away with his thumb.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm okay," He pulled her in close, and she ended up laying on the bed beside him.

He stroked her hair as more tears fell. His arms circled her waist and hugged her close. After a few minutes she composed herself.

"I owe you an explanation." He stayed silent, but continued stroking her hair, silently urging her to continue. "I was...working, but it wasn't exactly something Best assigned me to, or something he even knew about..."

She leaned back to gauge his reaction. He just looked confused.

"W- what do you mean?"

She bit her lip nervously.

"I was kind of investigating Boyd." She dropped her voice in case he was still lingering nearby.

Sam frowned. "What? Why?"

"You know _God's Good Grace_, the boat that Boyd gave you?" He nodded. "It belonged to a drug dealer named Wayne, it was confiscated in a high profile bust a few years ago. Brennan must have recognized the name and realized you were a cop! So, he had his goons nearly beat you to death, and it's all Boyd's fault!" Her voice raised on the last sentence, she was unable to keep her rage at Boyd in check.

Sam stared at her, his eyes wide.

"There has to be some sort of mistake...Boyd wouldn't..."

"We looked at the file of the Wayne case, anything regarding the boat is missing. I don't think it's a coincidence."

He took a deep, calming breath as he let this new information sink in.

"We?"

"Me and Luke," she clarified.

"I wish you had come to me with this."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to worry you unless I found something concrete. I wanted you to focus on getting better. That's why I lied. I'm really sorry,"

"So, did you find anything?"

"No, we went to Ten and asked Jamieson about the missing pages and he didn't know squat, and I couldn't find anything in Boyd's office -" She clapped her hand over her mouth, realizing what she had just said.

"You went through Boyd's stuff? Andy, you could have got in serious shit for that!" He sounded both concerned and a little angry.

"I don't care! If Boyd is the reason you nearly died then I don't give a shit what would have happened to me!" Her breath was now coming out in short puffs as she got more and more worked up.

"Andy, I love you for doing that for me, but I don't want you to put your career on the line like that. Just let me handle this, okay? I'll talk to Best about it."

"Okay," Andy conceded grudgingly.

There was a knock at the door and Dov walked in with his hands covering his eyes.

"Everybody decent?"

Andy grabbed an extra pillow and threw it at him. He dropped his hands from his face and held them up in a defensive gesture.

"Hey, I was just checking!"

"Epstein, could you get Best for me?" Sam asked, interrupting his and Andy's playful banter.

"Sure," Dov strode out of the room, but not before lobbing the pillow back in Andy's direction.

"You don't have to do this now. Come on, you just had major surgery. You need to relax."

"I won't be able to relax until I get this taken care of. I know you won't be able to either."

Andy couldn't disagree with that. Best entered the room and Andy gave Sam a kiss before bidding both men goodbye. She sat in the waiting room amidst her friends and colleagues, anxiously awaiting the outcome of Sam and Frank's discussion.

Fifteen long minutes later, Best emerged from Sam's room looking thunderous. That was either a good sign or a very bad one. Best was pulling out his cell phone and dialing as he walked away.

Andy hurried back into Sam's room.

"What happened?" she asked without preamble.

"He's reporting Boyd to Internal Affairs, he doesn't have to authority to do anything more, but he said he will more than likely be suspended."

Andy breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't exactly the punishment he deserved, but she supposed that would all happen in due time...

"Have I told you lately how much I love you? And how glad I am that you're okay?"

He smiled. "It can't hurt to hear it again."

She snuggled back into his side and rested her head on his chest, timing her breaths with the steady beat of his heart.


	15. Chapter 15

Watch your step," Andy cautioned, tightening her grip around Sam's shoulder.

He gave her a disparaging look. "Andy, I've lived here for nearly 10 years; I know where the step is."

"Shut up," she groused. "You don't get to be flippant today."

"Andy, I'm fine. The doctor wouldn't have released me otherwise."

"He explicitly said no exerting yourself," Andy argued.

Sam huffed in frustration. "Walking over the threshold is hardly exerting myself."

She gave him a look that said she didn't appreciate his sass. "Just humor me, alright?"

"Okay," he agreed; he did owe her that much.

She helped him settle onto the couch and fussed over him, making sure that he had everything he needed. Did he have enough pillows? Did he want something to eat? Did he need another pain killer?

Frank had given Andy the day off, so she was free to take care of Sam, even though Sam had insisted that it wasn't necessary. The determined look in Andy's eyes effectively shut him up, though. She needed this. She needed to know he was okay, and he figured it was the very least he could do for her.

Sam reached for the controller to the TV and groaned a little too loudly as he shifted onto a particularly tender spot.

Andy appeared at his side instantly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the alarm evident in her voice.

He was still a little breathless from the pain and couldn't respond immediately.

"Sam!"

"Fine," he said in between pants. "Just hurts like hell,"

Her face was twisted in fear and something else that he couldn't quite place. Her eyes followed his outstretched arm, and then she saw the controller where it fell on the ground just below the coffee table. She looked like she was about to cry; yet another reminder of how this whole situation has really affected her. She crouched down to pick up the remote.

"Damn it, I should have thought of that. I'm sorry," she apologized as she handed him the remote.

"Don't worry about it; you can't protect me from everything." She frowned, and he realized that probably wasn't the best thing to say. "I just mean -"

"I know. You're right, though. That's the worst part." She sat down on the couch next to him, careful not to get too close. "Maybe I can help you feel better, though." Andy had a mischievous smile on her face when she asked, "Where does it hurt?"

_Everywhere_, he thought, but he didn't want to alarm her. He pointed to a few indiscriminate places on his torso, wondering what she was up to.

She lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing the smattering of purplish bruises covering his upper body. She winced at the sight before her.

"It looks worse than it feels." he said, even though it was the other way around.

She leaned down and started pressing feather light kisses all over the expanse of his chest.

It was embarrassing how quickly he became almost painfully aroused, but in his defense it _had _been awhile...

"Andy...don't start anything you can't finish." Sam half warned.

Her fingers descended to the waistband of his sweatpants and pulled.

"Oh don't worry; I won't be the one _finishing_."

* * *

><p>Andy made dinner for herself and Sam and carried it out to the living room, where Sam was watching some old sitcom on TV. She helped Sam into a sitting position as carefully as possible, and then sat down and snuggled in as close to him as she dared without fear of hurting him. He lifted his arm gingerly and brought it around her shoulders.<p>

"I've missed this," she said once they were done eating.

"What?" he asked, amused. "Eating dinner on the couch and watching reruns?"

"No, just being here, with you."

"Me too," he whispered, pulling her in a little closer to his body.

He just reveled in the feeling of closeness for a few minutes, promising himself that he would never take simple things - like eating dinner and watching reruns - for granted ever again.

"Sam?" Andy said some time later.

"Hmm?" he asked, sleepily. He was dozing off a little, so very comfortable right where he was.

"What was it like?" she asked softly, almost timidly.

He opened his eyes. "What was what like?"

"That day that I found you." She cleared her throat. "I mean**…**the…you know, beating." She seemed to have trouble getting the words out.

He wasn't quite sure what she was looking for. Reassurance?

"It was terrifying. I was sure they were going to kill me, and I couldn't even lift a finger to defend myself. It was like all my training, all my experience, didn't mean shit." Remembering that helpless feeling made him feel angry and oddly claustrophobic.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed.

"Sorry? If it wasn't for your religious abhorrence to following rules, who knows how bad it would have been." he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

She smiled weakly.

"Well, now I guess I know how you felt when I would always put my life in danger."

He smiled grimly. He never wanted her to know how that felt. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

"Let's just quit our jobs and do something boring and safe," Andy suggested, "like accounting. Accountants don't get into near death experiences."

Sam laughed at the idea of Andy crunching numbers behind a desk all day.

"I don't know if that's true. You would probably die of boredom."

She looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Probably," she agreed.

"How about I promise to never go undercover again and you promise not to go into soon-to-collapse buildings and dark storage lockers?" Sam suggests.

The corner of her lips turned up. "Deal."

* * *

><p>The next day, Andy begrudgingly went back to work. Sam assured her that he would be fine, but she was still uneasy about leaving him alone. She made him promise to call her if he needed <em>anything<em>.

_"Anything?" he had asked with a suggestive smirk._

_"Sam, I'm being serious."_

Andy updated everyone on Sam's status and then headed to Best's office, as per his request to come see him when she arrived. She walked inside the neat office and Best gestured for her to sit down. She bounced her leg nervously, waiting for Best to inform her of the reason he'd called her in. Whenever Best wanted to see her, the thought: _what did I do now? _was always at the forefront of her mind.

"I just wanted to update you on Boyd. He has been suspended indefinitely by Internal Affairs pending a full and thorough investigation."

Andy couldn't help the smile that spread over her features. As it was, it was taking all of her restraint not to pump her fist in the air in triumph, or something equally as stupid.

"That's good," she said, hoping she didn't sound _too _smug.

"Andy," Best started in the tone he usually reserved for reprimanding her. Damn, she was so close. "I do _not _approve of your little detective side show with Callaghan. You should have brought your suspicions straight to me."

"I'm sorry, Sir, I really didn't mean to overstep. I just wanted to have some proof, instead of making an accusation that I couldn't back up."

"Hmph," he muttered, probably realizing that she had a valid point. "No, I suppose that's something the old McNally would have done."

She wasn't offended by this accusation, because, well - it was true.

She smiled. "You've taught me well, Sir."

"Alright, McNally, get out of here before I remember one of your past transgressions that I forgot to punish you for."

Andy took him at his word and hurried out of his office, even though she was pretty sure he was joking. Okay, maybe partially joking.

She was just about call Sam to tell him the good news when Oliver walked by and plucked her phone out of her hands.

"No personal calls when you're partnered with 'The Shawster', rookie."

Andy scowled.

"Okay, first of all: I am so not a rookie anymore…" she protested, reaching for her phone. But Shaw continued to hold it just out of her reach before depositing it into his pocket. "…and second of all: 'The Shawster'? Really?"

"Hey, it's going to catch on, you just watch."

Jerry walked by, having heard the end of Andy's rant.

"Oliver, stop trying to make 'The Shawster' happen, it's not going to happen."

"Barber, did you just quote _Mean Girls _at me? That's it; hand over your man card, right now." Oliver motioned with his hand expectantly.

"Hey, you're the one that recognized it. What does that say about you?"

"It says that I have three daughters. What's your excuse?"

"Oh my God," Andy said, shaking her head at the conversation playing out before her. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or use Oliver's momentary distraction to try and get her confiscated cell phone back. She chose the latter.

She stepped closer to Oliver, who was still going back and forth with Jerry, and reached her hand carefully into his right pocket. Her hands closed around her phone. _Aha_, she thought. Suddenly a hand closed around her wrist.

"Seriously, McNally, fifteen years on the job and you didn't think I would notice you clawing around in my pocket? Why that's damn near insulting." She dropped her phone guiltily as Shaw pulled her hand out of his pocket. "I was just being a jackass before, but now, I think I'm going to teach my rookie a lesson." He smiled gleefully. Teaching the rookies lessons was one of Oliver's favourite things to do.

Andy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her current riding partner, missing her usual partner more than ever.

When Andy arrived back at Sam's house that night, she was exhausted. All she wanted to do was fall into bed next to her man. She headed down the hall to Sam's room, shedding her clothes as she went, until she was down to just her panties. She was too tired to bother with even putting pajamas on.

As she lay down, Sam stirred beside her. She leaned over to give him a peck on the lips.

"Missed you today,"

He smiled sleepily. "Wouldn't know, since you didn't answer any of my texts."

"Ugh," she said rolling her eyes, "that's because I was partnered with the cell phone Nazi."

Sam chuckled. "Shaw confiscating rookie's cell phones again?"

"I'm not a rookie!"

"Touchy, touchy," he teased.

"I'm going to sleep." she informed him. She rolled over so her back was to him, and he immediately wound his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

His fingers splayed out on her stomach and inched higher and higher.

"Uh, why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

She laughed at the choked quality his voice had taken on. "To torture you, _obviously._Now shh, I'm tired."

* * *

><p>Andy was cooking breakfast for Sam and herself in honor of Sam's first day back to work, when Sam strolled into the kitchen wearing nothing but his boxers.<p>

"Notice anything different about me?" he asked her.

She turned attention away from the stove and gave him a very thorough once over, not even bothering to pretend that she wasn't ogling his half naked body. He spun around for affect, and she snapped her fingers.

"You got a haircut."

"Nope. All my bruises are gone." He grinned and spun around again, so she could see for herself.

She gasped and approached him in order to get a closer view. She examined every inch of previously bruised skin, to find that he was right. She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck.

"Love you," she murmured.

When she pulled back he had a serious look on his face. "Andy, I need to ask you something. Here sit down." He ushered her over to a dining room chair. She sat down, suspicious of what was going on.

Sam disappeared into his room, and emerged a minute or so later, dressed and with something small concealed in his hand. He knelt down in front of her on one knee and she swore she stopped breathing for a moment.

"Andy McNally, would you do me the honor of," he opened the box to reveal a key, "moving in with me again?"

Once she got over the initial shock, she reached out and smacked him on the arm.

"You jerk! That's not funny!"

He laughed and ducked her next blow. "Oh, come on, it was a little funny. You should have seen your face." He laughed again at the pouty expression on her face. "I'm serious, though. I want you to move in again. You're always here anyways, and when you're not I miss you like crazy. So, what do you say?"

"I still say you're an ass." she said, as she folded her arms across her chest. She sighed in resignation. "But I also have to say, it took you long enough! I will do you the honor of being your lovely roommate." she said, playing along with his joke.

"Good. This house never felt quite right after you left. If the past few months have proved anything, it's that we can get through anything as long as we're together."

"Anything." she echoed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Last chapter! I'm excited to see that little 'c' beside this story! (if you read mobile you'll know what I'm talking about) Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favourited and alerted, and thanks for stickin around even when I took months to update haha. And a special thanks to my beta deedee920, who I couldn't have finished this story without! <strong>


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